Everybody wants to rule the world
by Mnemosyne77
Summary: When the Nekross return to Earth, Varg is out for revenge and he's willing to reveal magic to the world to force the wizards into the light.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1  
_

The day they came back was a normal day.

The sun rose over the apple tree he'd planted behind the house, setting his cells on fire. He went to school and tried to grapple with A Levels and his job and the future and friends and football and all those things that had somehow seemed less complicated when he was fighting aliens.

He'd run home from school hoping to clear his head of everything. But they all still crowded in, demanding his attention. He'd meant to work a shift at the cafe that afternoon but had cancelled it. They hadn't been angry. The word 'exams' seemed to have a magical quality all of its own.

He still had the address Benny had given it to him several days ago. But, if he was honest, it wasn't just the long haul to East London that was stalling him. Two years was a long time.

He missed Benny's company on the way home even if he made much better time. Benny wasn't just two left feet: he was a brain endlessly distracted by... everything. The street was a minefield and Tom often felt like he was navigating a blind man.

He hadn't Skyped him today. Or yesterday. He was trying not think about the address. And the other thing.

 _There's something else, Tom_ , Benny had told him. _An anomaly._

 _What kind of anomaly?_

 _It could be galactic noise. Maybe the CMBR. I'm not sure. Space is louder than people think._

 _And if it's not?_

 _I don't want to speculate, Tom. But we don't know how long it would take them to get to Nekron and back. They could already be here._

 _Well if they're already here, Benny, then where are they?_

 _Exactly. If wizards started disappearing again, the Network of Mirrors would go crazy._

Galactic noise. The CMBR? He had no idea what that meant.

The address was in his wallet and the wallet was in his pocket at all times. But maybe it was still too dangerous to use it.

"Tom? Are you alright?"

He started for a moment and realised he was standing outside his front door and had been for the last 5 minutes.

"Sorry, Dad, I was just thinking."

"Well, do you mind thinking inside the house? I have a Pekinese with a stomach problem I need to get back to and I was hoping to have a bite of tea first."

Tom pushed opened the door and walked down the hallway to the kitchen, throwing his crammed backpack on a lounge chair on his way through.

"Wow, a diarrhoetic dog. I can't understand why I didn't want to become a vet."

"Last time I looked you hadn't decided what you wanted to be at all."

"Come on, Dad. I'm doing three A levels aren't I? I can work that other stuff out after a gap year."

"And I think a gap year is a good idea. But there's no point if you don't have a university acceptance first."

"What do you want me to say? I don't know what I want to do. I'm a warrior wizard. It keeps me a little busy."

"You don't have an alien invasion as an excuse anymore, son. And the Line of Twilight has held for 500 years. I think it will hold while the Great Tom Clarke gets an education."

Tom shrugged and was about to commit blasphemy. _Maybe I don't want to go to Uni_ was on the tip of his tongue. But that would open up a can of worms he wasn't prepared to deal with yet. So he was relieved when...

"Michael, leave the boy alone. He's right. If he has some A levels he can look at further education later. For now, let him be."

"Thanks, Gran." He smiled gratefully.

His Dad, moving around the kitchen as he heated a can of soup and made some toast, gave an expression that was half grimace and half distaste.

"It's a competitive world out there. And the last time I looked, magic wasn't going to solve an admissions problem."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Ursula intoned in a serious voice.

They swapped old, well-worn looks - frustration and amusement - and Tom smiled at the familiarity of it.

"Well, I have homework to do and so I'm getting changed and going to the library."

"What about something to eat?" they both said simultaneously.

He grinned at that, "I'll grab something before I go. Now stop worrying, both of you. Everything's going to be fine."

He needed a shower. He was anxious to get out but he needed the warm water and the moment alone. His final year of school was busy, even if he no longer had the threat of magical extraction hanging over his head.

They'd re-enforced the Shroud three times since the Nekross had left. But he still had moments, even after all these years. The pit in his stomach. A sound, a feeling and then the grip of panic. The fingers twitching. Thumb and forefinger. Moments when he was sure they were there. Watching. Waiting.

But they weren't.

The address was still in his wallet. The wallet was still in his uniform, thrown carelessly on the floor of the bathroom.

And what could he say anyway? That he was sorry that his magic had failed so badly. That he'd felt it give away one normal Tuesday afternoon on a normal day just like today. Felt it unclench and spiral away from him, like... he had no words. He just knew it had unravelled.

Magic shouldn't work like that. He hadn't even realised he was still holding the spell together until it had unwound and dissipated like mist. You couldn't catch mist. And he didn't have the magic to get it back.

He never told anyone. Not even Benny. If he did they might start asking questions that he wasn't ready to answer. Like where he was going right now.

He towelled down and ran from the steamy bathroom down the frigid hallway to his room. He put the wallet into his jeans and slipped on a fresh t-shirt and a jacket. It was chilly, even as the year flowed inexorably toward summer. Study. Exams. Freedom. Of a sort anyway.

His phone rang as he slipped out the front door with two fresh toasties in a brown paper bag.

"Ok, I'm off to the library," he yelled to the empty living room as he stepped outside.

He answered the phone, juggling it for a moment as he slipped the warm, greasy bag of sandwiches in his jacket pocket.

"Hey, Katie. Ow!"

"What?"

"Sorry, I just burned my hand on a toastie."

"Well, I guess you're not coming to dinner with us then?"

"Sorry, Katie, I'm stuck at home. Studying. You know what my Dad's like."

"Yeah. Mine too. Still, they should let you out sometimes. You need to decompress."

"Sorry. I just can't."

"That's ok."

There was a silence on the phone and he waited for nearly 30 seconds before saying.

"Alright then, Katie, well I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Listen, Tom, I wanted you to know. I was going to tell you tonight but since you're not going to be there. I kind of have a new boyfriend."

"Seriously? That's amazing."

"Oh, good. I mean, I'm glad. That you're okay with it."

"We broke up two years ago, Katie. Why would I not be okay with it?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to check."

"So what's Don Juan's name anyway?"

"Hart. We met at work. And Don Juan is kind of an insult under the circumstances."

"Oh yeah, good point. But, that's great, Katie. Wait, is he the tall one who was there last time I came in? The really hot one?"

She laughed at that, "Well, _I_ think so."

"For the record, that was Joc. Not me. Something about his amazing skin. And his height. And his eyes. I don't know. She went on about it for, like, an hour."

"It sounds like her."

"What's with the name Heart anyway?"

"It's short for Rahart. It's Arabic. Or maybe Persian. Something like that anyway."

"Ahh. You know, I'm really happy for you, right? Even if we will have to put up with Joc going gaga every time she sees him. And possibly Benny. But he'll do it quietly. Like, on the inside."

"Thanks, Tom. Look, this whole 'studying' thing. It's not just an excuse for you to go and do something magical is it? There's nothing we have to worry about? No vampires? Or aliens?"

He forced a chuckle, "Nothing at all. I honestly just have to stay home and study. Hey, you're not going to mention the whole 'magic' thing to the new boyfriend are you?"

"I've kept your secret this long, Tom. I think I can manage it."

"Thanks, Katie. And say hi to Quinn for me, will you? Bye."

He hung up and paused for a moment before sliding into the driver's seat of his old Corolla. It was a risk, telling his parents one thing and his friends another. But he wouldn't put it past them deciding to 'surprise him' at the library after dinner. Or dropping round his if they didn't find him there.

He put the car into gear and turned into the road toward the High Street. It was the wrong way but he'd just have to double back later.

 _You know what's weird, Tom. There's a Burnt Hill stone circle in Massachusetts too._

 _Seriously?_

 _Yeah. Do you think they could be, I don't know, magically linked or something?_

 _What, because they have the same name?_

 _You're the wizard. Names have power. Isn't that what you always say? Maybe it's why they're so powerful. I mean, maybe they're like, connected. Or, I don't know, two parts of the same thing._

 _Two parts of what thing?_

 _I don't know, Tom. I just thought it was interesting._

So had he when he'd had time to think about it. What were the stones anyway? Where did their magic come from? The Line of Twilight had stood for 500 years but things still got through now and then.

There were Thresholds of Enchantment. He knew that. And Neverways. He knew that better than anybody. The stones were magic but where did that magic come from? Benny had asked him that once and he'd given him a glib answer.

 _Sometimes things just are._

 _That's not an answer, Tom._

 _Well, it's all the answer I've got. Magic isn't science, Benny.  
_

After all these years, he knew Benny was right. 'Because' wasn't an answer. It was the prelude to a question. Anything else was an invitation to accept the status quo. And Tom Clarke did not accept the status quo. If he had, he'd be dead.

It was a short drive to the stones. He turned the radio on and then turned it off again. He hated that song.

 _Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down_

It may as well be the Wizard's theme song. It may as well be his theme song.

He had brought a camping LED lantern with him. He wasn't ready to call upon the stones and he certainly wasn't going to waste his spells creating light. He knew how capricious the stones could be and he could do without one of their bargains. But if what he suspected was true, he didn't need them anyway. It would take all his magic but he'd saved his spells. Darkness had fallen. And tomorrow was a new day.

He'd barely started when the phone rang. It was his Dad so he almost didn't answer it. I'm busy, he thought in frustration. But in his family it wasn't a good idea not to answer a phone. Who knew what had happened.

"Dad," he said cheerfully, hoping the silence of the stones at night would sound like the silence of a library.

"Tom, I know you're studying but you need to get to a computer. Or turn on a TV. And quickly."

"Dad?"

"I'm serious, Tom. Do it now."

"But what...?"

"They're back, Tom. They're back. And they've just outed you."

"Outed me? To who?"

"To everybody, Tom. To the whole damn world."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I can't believe I'm back writing fan fiction, let alone Wizards vs Aliens fan fiction. But I think this story has been buzzing around my head for far too long and it's distracting me from my "proper" work.  
**

 **I'm not English so anachronisms will happen. I am open to correction, especially about the education system which is reconstructed from vague childhood memories of teen school books.**

 **Season 3 never happened.**

 **Katie and Tom broke up in Season 2 (as they should have).**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2  
_

Major Sun straightened her beret, checked the pendant was safely tucked in her breast pocket and stepped out of the artificially-bright warehouse into the grey autumn day.

Her straight black hair, usually tightly-pulled into a bun, sat on her shoulders and she was mentally cursing having it cut short the week before. She'd thought she was off to Brussels for a desk job. Instead she was fighting drizzle in an East London industrial park during what looked like an alien invasion.

The car pulled back and she walked briskly over as the Brigadier got out of the car, placing his cap on his grey hair in a single definite, practiced motion.

She saluted with a crisp, "Sir."

"Major, I trust everything is in order."

"Yes, Sir, the base of operations has been established."

He moved toward the main warehouse and she fell into step with him.

"And has there been any luck in finding this 'Tom Clarke'?"

"Sorry, Sir, I'm afraid that Thomas Clarke is a remarkably common name. There are hundreds in the UK, maybe thousands. We've eliminated everyone over 65 and under 21 from our enquiries but that still gives us an extremely large number of names to sift through in England alone."

"And what else do we know about him? Aside from the fact these aliens seem to think he's some sort of leader."

"Very little, Sir. We're assuming he's a politician or a diplomat. Maybe a soldier. But the message from the aliens was brief and we've heard nothing more from them since they broadcasted it last night."

"And do we know how they managed to do that? Broadcast worldwide on our frequencies? And in perfect English, which is possibly even more disturbing."

"No, Sir. They're clearly more technically-advanced than us by a significant margin."

"Which makes it all the more puzzling why they'd be asking for a negotiation without any show of military strength. And not with the UN or the EU or China or the US. With this Tom Clarke."

"Indeed, Sir. Maybe he's in the corporate world? An eccentric billionaire who's contacted aliens in his spare time?"

"This isn't a comic book, Major."

"No, Sir. Sorry, Sir. Just trying to be flexible. Think outside the box. And... we're here."

"Here" was the converted warehouse she'd spent the night setting up while those above her held global crisis meetings with every organisation from SETI and NASA to the Gates Foundation. It appeared nobody had a contingency plan for something that seemed to be taken from the plot of the last Superman film. Apart from 'find Superman'.

"Sir, I've partitioned the warehouse into a staging area, a briefing room and facilities. There are two conference rooms and we're in the process of setting up a lab. A very well-equipped one if I understand correctly.

"I've arranged a staff briefing in the smaller conference room so we can discuss what we know so far. Troops here so far are mostly boffins, Sir. Strategic, scientific, engineering. Some private sector. Some NGO."

He nodded, his face neutral. But she'd seen enough neutral military expressions in her time to know what they meant.

"I know what you're thinking, Sir. You're thinking nothing will be achieved by yet another briefing. Not with the sparse intelligence we have so far. But I think people need it. I think they need to feel like they're doing something. And you never know, they might come up with something."

He expression remained neutral but he looked directly at her for the first time and nodded. Then he took a quick, deep breath and opened the door into the conference room.

"Good morning, everyone, my name is Brigadier Spiers and I am officially in command of the Combined Armed Services response to the current threat. At least once we're sure what the current threat is.

And this is Major Sun, NATO attache. She will be our liaison to any possible military response to these... aliens.

As you know, at 2032 two nights ago, an alien race known as the Nekross hacked into the broadcasting frequencies of the entire world and relayed a message.

That message, from a being we know only as Varg, said the Nekross had come from the Planet Nekron and would only speak to somebody named Tom Clarke. He is apparently in what the Nekross called 'the Earth Sector known as England'. At 2145 last night, the UK government in concert with the EU, NATO and the United Nations tasked me to head up an operational unit in the UK to find this Tom Clarke and to gather intelligence on our enemy. If that is what they are. Questions?"

They'd been up all night and by early evening even the unflagging Sun was testy from caffeine and lack of sleep. They had the video from last night's broadcast and that was it. No other information. No signals or sightings. They were assuming the broadcast was sent from orbit but they couldn't detect a ship from the ground or from satellites. The ISS had seen nothing.

She'd think it was a remarkable hoax except that some Oxbridge child genius had informed her the broadcast had 'no terrestrial origin' and was definitely made with alien technology.

Sun had struggled with people taking her seriously when she'd been promoted so young so she tended to resist the urge to judge people by their age. But, honestly, how old was that Benny Sherwood? He looked about 12. And, now that she thought about it, she wasn't even entirely sure what agency he was with. Well, the other boffins seemed impressed by his work so that was the important thing.

The Brigadier had left after lunch to try to get some sleep and to touch base with what she couldn't help mentally referring to as "the brass". She'd set herself up a bed in a closet so she could get some rest herself when...

"Major? Major, I think you need to come here."

It was Sherwood, poking his eager face through her office door. Like everyone else, he looked crumpled in his casual trousers and shirt. But unlike everyone else he didn't look tired. She wondered what was keeping him bouncing around like a schoolkid on an exciting field trip but decided it was better off not knowing.

"Yes, Sherwood."

"It's the aliens, Miss. I mean, Ma'am. I mean, Major..."

"You're a civilian, Sherwood. You can call me Theresa. Or Sun."

"Sun? I like that. You're Canadian of Chinese descent?"

"Well done. Most people think I'm American. Of generic Asian descent.

"Wow. Asia's a big place."

"Yes it is. But I think there was a matter of some urgency?"

"Sorry, Major. Sun. The aliens. They've made contact. They're... um... waiting on the line?"

"Wait, do you mean direct contact? To here?"

"Well, technically through a satellite uplink we have that we've been using to try to locate them. We must have ... pinged them... or something."

"But Brigadier Spiers isn't here. We need a General or a Head of State or something."

"No time. The satellite will be out of range in 10 minutes."

"I... I can't."

"Yes you can. You have to. Otherwise it's me. And it... it _can't be me_."

She was momentarily surprised by his tone but dismissed it as nerves. She was certainly struggling with the idea of it being her.

"Ok. Have we found Tom Clarke?"

" _Technically_ no."

Her natural self-assuredness was blasted momentarily by an attack of extreme self-doubt. A lot of people were not going to be happy about this. It could end her career. _Or make it_. She could start a war with a single word. _Or stop one_.

"Ok, Sherwood. Let the Brigadier know and show me where to go."

She walked into the staging area and took several quick deep breaths to calm her nerves, closing her eyes for a moment to block out the enormity of what she was about to do. Possibly the first human to speak to an alien.

"Make the connection," she said to the technician. She looked over her shoulder for Sherwood but he was nowhere to be seen.

She'd seen the video. A hundred times. Possibly more as they'd scanned it for clues, intelligence. Insight into the creature. Analysed its language, its syntax, its use of words, its enunciation. And learned little.

The species had a reptilian quality. And some sort of vestigial mouth and eye that framed its face. It was yellow but also mottled. Its eyes were eerily human. Its teeth omnivorous. Or at least they would have been all those things if they'd evolved on Earth.

Who knew how and why evolution had expressed those thing on this strange world. Nekross. But still. Those eyes. Maybe it was a hoax. A brilliant one. A genius in prosthetics with a camcorder and a talent for hacking.

 _No terrestrial origin_.

No. No hoax was this good.

And no amount of controlled breathing prepared her for when the widescreen monitor connected and she saw him.

"And who are you?" he gritted through his teeth. Rudeness? Arrogance? How could you tell with someone from a culture so different it evolved in a different galaxy.

She unconsciously tugged her shirt down below her jacket and managed, "My name is Major Theresa Sun, representing the..."

"What you are is irrelevant. Where is Tom Clarke?"

"I apologise but we haven't been able to find him yet. Tom Clarke is a very common name. Perhaps if..."

"The Nekross have little interest in your excuses. Or your incompetence. And I, Varg, King Regent of Nekron have come here to finish a war, not start one. I have little time for a low-ranked unenchanted. If the wizards are too scared to come out of the shadows then maybe they need some incentive."

 _Wizards. Unenchanted. What the..._

"I see you are in a factory in East London. Let's see how fast your precious protector of the unenchanted comes out of hiding once I bomb you out of existence."

"Enough, Varg."

The air beside her shimmered and seemed to fall away and beside her was a young brunette man about 18 in basic jeans and a t-shirt.

"You wanted my attention, Varg. Well, you got it. Any particular reason for the exhibition?"

Varg gave what she could only describe as a grin, "Ah. Tom Clarke. So glad you could join us."

"What do you want, Varg?"

"You know what I want. I told you after our last encounter. I want magic. All of it."

"So why involve the unenchanted? Why go through this charade? They have nothing to do with this. This is between you and me."

"You have the audacity to ask that question. After what you did to my sister? I want your planet's magic. But maybe now I'll take the rest of the planet as well. Earth will become a part of the Nekron empire."

"You know I won't let that happen."

"I know you'll try. But let's see how your precious unenchanted respond to wizards being among them. Let's see how well they cope with knowing about magic. And aliens. Let's see how well you hide from the Nekross when you have a whole planet of people looking at you.

I'm sending this conversation around the world as we speak. Everyone everywhere is watching us right now.

Everyone knows who you are, Tom Clarke. Everyone knows your face. Everyone knows what you are. Everyone knows about magic. And wizards. And you, warrior wizard of the Line of Crowe.

And now, as promised, I have targeted the facility you're in. You have two minutes, Wizard. Show the humans what you're capable of. Or die."

The transmission ended.

And for the first time in her life, Theresa Sun had no idea what to do.

* * *

 **So apparently I've joined a fandom that wants to feed me. Thanks for your reviews. And for the cookies, cupcakes, tea and pastries.**

 **I swear I didn't remember the 'global broadcast' thing was part of that awful Superman film until I'd written this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3  
_

"And what you will be looking for, young master?"

He should have known Moon would catch him in the Wisdom of Crowe. The Chamber had looked empty when he'd snuck in and he'd hoped the guardian was sleeping like the Hobbledehoy. He briefly considered lying but then decided knowledge was best gained via the straightest road.

Mostly because that was a quote by Caractacus Crowe he'd just read.

"Moon, what's an unravelling?"

Moon gave him a suspicious look, "And why would you be wanting to know about the Unravelling?"

"So the word does mean something. I knew it. It seemed familiar but I couldn't work out from where."

"It's a word used by the old ones. Before the Line of Twilight. Wizards could draw their magic from the Neverside. And they could be casting the Spells of Perpetuity."

"A spell of perpetuity? You mean like a perpetual spell? Why would anyone need to do that? I mean, when a spell is cast it's cast. Right?"

"Not always. Just be looking at the Line of Twilight. It was cast by the nine but is held in place by their Magical Line. In perpetuity."

"What? I never knew that. But what about the Shroud?"

"Is held in perpetuity by Randal Moon. Is why Randal Moon was being in the spell."

"How do I not know this?"

"Spells that be going into perpetuity are dangerous. Like the stones, they can drain a wizard's magic. Especially now those wizards be limited by the dayside. And what if a wizard be passing? Then the spell be unravelling. Unless the spell be fixed."

"Fixed to what?"

"An object. Or a magical line."

"And you're saying the Line of Twilight is fixed to... me? To Gran? To every Crowe?"

"And every Hawke. And Whiteraven and Sandpiper. Nine magical lines. Three by three. Cubing. Powerful magic. Into perpetuity."

"But that means... what if a magical line gets wiped out? What if all nine lines get wiped out? If the Nekross destroyed all wizardkind..."

"If the tethers break, the Line could tear. If they were destroyed, the Line would be failing. Falling. It would be the Unravelling."

Tom leant against the solid stone weight of the table; his mind racing with the implications.

"I knew what the Nekross was doing was bad. But this...

"Moon, can a perpetual spell be unravelled if a wizard is still alive?"

"But of course. If a wizard holds the spell themself then he or she is weaker. If there is a day they use all their spells, then the perpetual spell will unravel. But no wizard alive today is powerful enough to cast one. It requires contact with a source of magic."

"Like the Neverside?"

"Yes."

"Or like the Salute?"

"The Salute? Oh, young Master, what will you have been doing?"

'Nothing, Moon," he rushed to reassure him, "Really. It was just a hypothetical."

"Well, I'll be thanking you to not be scaring Randal Moon. Spells of perpetuity can kill wizards if they unravel badly. And you do not have access to the Sky Ship magic any longer."

 _It looks like the magic from the extractor was too much for your cellular storage, Tom._

 _And what does that mean in English, Benny?_

 _It's like a battery that's overcharged. It'll give you a burst of power but it'll go flat quickly._

 _So my days of being Bad Wolf Tom are numbered?_

 _Did you just make a Doctor Who reference?_

 _Let's just keep it between us._

 _I mean, it's for the best isn't it, Tom? You didn't like it. All that magic. That power._

 _No. But I swear, Benny, since I took it I am more powerful than I was before. I can feel it. It scares me sometimes._

 _Well, I don't think it'll last. At some point the battery will go flat and when it does your cells should recharge normally. I mean, you're still like one of the most powerful wizards in the world, right? Even without the extra magic? That's what a warrior wizard is, isn't it?_

How could he not have known he'd cast a perpetual spell? Even if he didn't know about them before today, he still should have known. Something.

Hadn't he felt it inside him? Hadn't he felt _them_ inside him? How could he not have realised?

What had he done?

* * *

Media. Circus.

And Tom Clarke had ringside seats.

He'd decided there was little point in caution anymore so he'd asked Moon to cast a facade charm. It wasn't as if magic was a big secret anymore. Especially his.

The media and a few terse Military Police stood in frustrated boredom outside the boundary of the house all morning. Benny went out a couple of times to wave at the reporters under their oblivious noses and came back as excited as only he could be.

"It's amazing. Although, what would have happened if I was wearing perfume? Would they have smelt it?"

"Perfume?" Tom was lounging in a recliner by the fireplace, a cup of hot chocolate nestled comfortably in his lap. He'd been trying to get Benny to relax but as usual the geek couldn't wind down.

"And why was Hermione wearing perfume in that scene anyway? Who puts perfume on when you're on the run and camping in the woods?"

"Benny. Enough. Please. Enough with the Harry Potter. If I see another news report of me casting that spell with _You're a wizard, Harry_ captioned underneath it, it'll be too soon."

"Stop complaining. There are worse comparisons. I watched a YouTube video on whether Varg was Voldemort."

"Well, they both start with V."

Benny laughed, "Was their first point."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I wish I was. Have you spoken to Sun? Or Spiers?"

Tom shook his head, "They'll call. I imagine they're all running around trying to incorporate magic into military strategy."

"And I imagine you'll have something to say about that."

He nodded, "It's not just that. They're struggling with my age. Gemma Raven said they've been out trying to find a 'real wizard leader'. One that shaves. Their words."

"Well, they're bound to get a disappointing response to that."

"Like I said, they'll call soon. I needed some time to think anyway."

"About..." Benny stopped before he could finish the thought. Maybe it wasn't the time to bring it up.

Tom sipped his chocolate gratefully. The last thing he needed was to talk about that.

And in the other room, the phone rang.

* * *

Theresa Sun didn't know what she expected of magic. She didn't know expectations of magic was a thing she'd need to have.

So the first time she saw a spell cast, all she could see was its beauty; like plasma radiating lazy lines of energy in flowing arcs of rainbow colours. It charged the air around her like electricity: the hair on her arms shot up and she could feel a pressure in her chest. Like decompression. Like implosion.

She realised her pendant was in her hand. She hadn't remembered pulling it from her pocket but it was there. It felt cold in her hand and she gripped it tightly, soaking up the strange sense of peace it brought.

She thought that words were spoken but she couldn't remember what they were. All she remembered was the pulsating waves that poured from Tom Clarke's fingers; sliding up toward the ceiling of the staging area and then...

Nothing.

"What happened?" she asked him, her question being echoed around the room from all the other staff.

"Ma'am?"

"Major," she corrected the Surveillance Officer absently.

"Major, we have confirmation. Two missiles were fired at this facility. From space. We can't pinpoint the source of the launch yet but..."

She cut him off with a curt wave of her hand and placed the pendant back into the pocket of her jacket. Also absently.

"So what happened?" she asked him, military facade restored.

"We don't know. They just... disappeared."

"Not exactly," said Tom with an embarrassed laugh. She looked at him properly for the first time, noticing his casualness. His age. _He's practically a_ child. His clean-cut look. Brown hair and eyes, clean-shaven.

"I'm afraid my mind wandered," he finished, obviously not disconcerted by her appraisal.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" she demanded softly.

"Ma'am." This time it was the duty guard from the gate hailing her via her radio.

She ignored the ma'am. This was a crisis after all.

"Go ahead."

"Ma'am, we have some sort of situation here."

"What kind of situation?"

"It's raining rose petals, ma'am. A lot of rose petals."

She clicked off the radio and turned her attention back to the boy, "Are you telling me you turned two missiles into roses?"

"Rose _petals_ , actually." This from Sherwood who seemed to have re-appeared as quietly as he'd vanished in the first place. "No thorns. No stem. Just petals. Three colours. I prefer the white."

"Let the bullets in the air turn to raining rose petals," said Tom, almost apologetically. "It's a song. I was listening to it this morning. It must have, you know, stuck in my head."

"You're telling me you cast a spell that turned two missiles into flowers and it's now raining petals down over my facility?"

"Probably a wider area than that."

"East London?"

He shook his head, "Missiles tend to have a large blast radius and I... well the spell, intercepted them a few miles up so..."

"Stealthy, Tom," said Benny. "Very stealthy."

"Oh, I think we're beyond stealth now," Tom said.

He turned to Sun, "So, the Nekross. Aliens, wizards, magic. My technical advisor and I should probably get you up to speed on all that."

"Your technical advisor?"

"Yeah," he looped his arm around Sherwood's shoulders and gave her another somewhat sheepish look, "You've been working with him."

"Tom thought it might be a good idea for me to keep an eye on things."

"You're a spy?"

"More like an observer."

"How did you even get in here?"

The boys swapped an amused look and simultaneously said, "Magic."

Ten years of training. It hadn't prepared her for this.

"I'm serious," Tom said, the grin sliding off his face. "This is a fight for wizards. It's _been_ a fight for wizards for the last three years. The Nekross got you involved but they shouldn't have. I'll answer all your questions but you need to leave the fight to me."

She looked at him again: earnest unlined face and a strange look in his eye as though the person staring back at her was older. Much older.

"That's never going to happen," she said.

And both of them knew it to be true.

* * *

She'd managed to get home and to get some sleep that night.

After everything that had happened, she thought 'sleep' might be optimistic. But exhaustion, it seemed, trumped even the most fundamental existential crisis. She wasn't a scientist but she was a scientific thinker. It had propelled her up the ranks to Major in record time and she considered it her greatest strength.

But magic? Magic just didn't fit. She didn't even know where to start in finding a place for magic in her mental map of the world. Yet the same mental framework that concluded it wasn't real, also brooked no argument in the face of stone-cold facts.

She knew how wrong 'seeing was believing' was. Eyes lied. But data was a different story. And she had data. Reams of it. And all saying the same thing.

A man - no a boy - had taken two alien missiles that were seconds away from blowing her into atoms and had rained them down on Greater London in the form of flowers.

As she sat at her breakfast table, eating her normal toast with her normal black coffee and looking out into her normal back garden, she found herself looking for petals. Pink and red and white and falling from the sky. Some had been on the sidewalk as she'd gotten out of the car last night. And the streets were full of people, hundreds of them. Gathering them up, praying, laughing. Crying.

She felt for her pendant, around her neck when she wasn't on duty, and this time she opened it up. How she would have loved a world of magic. How incredible. And how tragic that she would never see it.

If it wasn't for that magic, she would be dead. They would all be dead.

She picked up her mobile and made the call.

"Spiers, I don't care what you have to do or say. We need Tom Clarke's magic."

She finished her coffee and went into the bathroom for a shower. On the way she slipped the locket into a wicker basket by the front door. It was filled with rose petals.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4  
_

My name is Tom Clarke. I am a warrior wizard of the Line of Crowe. My job is to protect the Earth. From aliens. From magical creatures of the Neverside . And from any other threat the Universe happens to throw my way. I have been fighting the Nekross since I was 16 years old. And I may not have won every battle but I have definitely won the war. And I will keep fighting until every magic-eating alien around our planet has been driven back to their own galaxy and never dares to face me or wizardkind again!

Tom tapped the computer to pause his powerpoint presentation, looked at the sea of uniformed faces and added, "Any questions?"

* * *

"Shouldn't you be out saving the world or something?"

Tom ignored Quinn and concentrated on the food being delivered to the table.

The tiny restaurant, tucked into the back of a side street behind the hospital, had become a group favourite since that day in Year 11 when they'd all bunked off double physics to go to the movies and had nearly been caught by the Principal. Quinn had suggested she was bunking off as well and so wouldn't turn them in. He never really was the brightest, Tom thought.

They'd ducked into what they'd thought was a market only to find the grimey exterior and shelves of Sri Lankan spices hid a charming caf that served everything from full English to Lamprais.

The owners - refugees who'd come over from Sri Lanka in the 1990s - were also wizards. But Tom had never told anyone that part.

"If there is one thing you soon learn about war, my friend," said Jagadeep as he placed their curry and roti on the table, "You can't let it stop you from living your normal life. At least until it gives you no choice."

"What he said," Tom agreed, "Besides, Quinn, if I wasn't here I couldn't see the Hart show."

"What a plank," pronounced Quinn, looking across the cafe to where Katie and Jocasta were ostensibly looking at Jag's art but mostly fawning over Rahart. Benny was staring fixedly at the statuary. Tom smiled at that.

"A gorgeous plank, apparently," he said. "What's the matter, Quinn? Girls not paying attention to you anymore?"

"Trust me. All the girls that matter are still all about the Quinnmeister."

"Oh, you mean like Joc?"

"Joc the Jock? No way."

"What? You can't handle a girl that's better than you at football. And basketball. And swimming. And..."

"Better? In your dreams, Clarke."

Tom looked over to the athletic Jamaican girl blatantly flirting with Katie's boyfriend. He had no idea whether Quinn fancied her but it was fun to wind him up.

Benny was still staring. The casual observer, knowing his intellectual pursuits, may have been fooled into thinking he was absorbed by the art. But Tom knew him better. It really was time he got him a boyfriend.

"Seriously, Clarke," Quinn drew his attention back to him, "do you have time for this?"

"I'll make time, Quinn. It's important. Besides, I've been doing this for three years. And you never know when..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing," he protested again at Quinn's sceptical look, "Friends are important. That's all. After all, what are we fighting for?"

Quinn just nodded and Tom was grateful that he seemed to have forgiven him so quickly. He'd been angry when he'd found out. The aliens were looking for a Tom Clarke but he hadn't clicked. Why would he? The only Tom Clarke he knew had been his friend since the first day of middle school.

He was at the bus stop watching YouTube videos on his iPad when it had happened. And he'd ended up standing there in a rain of flowers watching the cause online in disbelief. The fact Katie and Bennie already knew had made it worse.

But Quinn's anger always flared and died down quickly. Tom was glad he tended to make a rapid progression to the status quo, especially after Katie. Her reaction to finding out he had magic hadn't been as good. Still, he was glad she'd found someone normal. Completely normal - he'd checked. Mind you, who called themselves Hart? Quinn was right. He was a plank. But a harmless one.

"Guys, food." He gestured them back to the table. "You know how I eat. You'd better get to it."

Benny shuffled over and sat next to him, one of his devices in his hand.

"You know we're under surveillance right now," he said under his breath. So maybe Hart wasn't the only reason he'd seemed distracted.

"I figured as much. Army?"

"Looks like it."

"Your gizmo tell you that?"

"You know how I already had that hack into the CCTV network? I set up an alert for suspicious military activity in our vicinity. Two MPs parked in a car outside. They got here 15 minutes ago."

"I don't care."

"But, Tom, if they're following you...?"

"It's ok."

"No, Tom, really, if you're not careful..."

"I'm staying away, Benny. I told you, it's ok. I don't intend to use the address you gave me until I'm ready."

"Ready for what? What does that even mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything, Benny. Just forget it."

"And what about, oh, I don't know, the war with the Nekross? The giant spaceship in the sky? The whole world knowing about magic?"

"Well, I'll deal with that too."

Benny shook his head, "You're supposed to tell me these things, Tom. I'm supposed to be your best friend."

He leaned closer and dropped his voice even lower, "I just saw you turn two missiles into plants, Tom. You're one of the most powerful wizards I know and I have _never_ seen you do something like that. I mean, not since..."

"I said it's ok. I just don't want you to worry, alright?"

"And you want me to pretend I accept that reason, do you?"

"That'd be nice."

"Unbelievable."

"Just trust me, ok. Please."

"Oi, you two. Enough whispering. No magic. No aliens. That was the agreement."

"Sorry, Joc," they both managed half-heartedly.

Tom looked at her plate heaped high with curry, rice and bread.

"Got enough food there, Joc?"

"No. I'm _starving_.

"You're always starving."

"I'm a growing girl."

* * *

Theresa looked at the previous day's media analysis and sighed in relief.

The Nekross had stayed silent. She didn't know why but it had given the world time to adjust to the existence of magic. She thought today would be a public relations disaster. Anger. Fear. Ranting BNP nationalists. It was clearly what Varg was expecting.

Well, maybe not the BNP part.

But most of the narrative was wonder. And naive curiosity. And joy at the unexpectedness of life. And that was a wonder in and of itself.

By mid-afternoon, a portly middle-aged wizard named Samual Shrike was appearing on news programmes and talk shows. He wore polyester and glasses and had flyaway greying ginger hair.

Wizards were real but mostly harmless, he assured everybody. Fighting was the province of warrior wizards. And that was Tom Clarke. He was the one who would protect them.

"I could barely magic my sandwich into a paper bag," he declared definitively, "What would I do with an alien? Especially one that eats magic. No, leave it to Tom. He'll do what needs to be done."

Eats. Magic.

What did that mean?

The sooner they got the Clarke boy in to brief them the better.

It was a strangely comforting narrative, she realised. The world was besieged by hostile aliens. But it was ok because a magical child was going to defeat them with flowers.

Those flowers...

* * *

"The Nekross are a race of aliens from the Korbol Galaxy."

Around her, the staff of the Extraterrestial Strategic Operation Unit shifted and twitched in their seats.

It's not that Tom and Benny's briefing was boring. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was borderline bizarre; at least for the various beret colours in the room who found themselves in a serious briefing about an ongoing fight between wizards and aliens.

"... around 700 years ago, Nekross scientists discovered that, when they ate plants and animals on their home planet, they were actually ingesting a specific type of energy that..."

It was like a bad science fiction film mixed with 19th century gothic horror. And random pixies.

"...that energy was what we call magic. They found a way to genetically engineer themselves to directly absorb the..."

She started at that. A genetically-engineered race. She wondered what it would be like if humans were engineered to photosynthesise or something like that. We could feed directly from the sun. That seemed like it could be...

"...more efficient. At least in the short term. The plants and animals were still consumed of course. But by directly absorbing magic they could significantly increase the yield of..."

Of course, Sun thought, a greater sudden prevalence of food for one species in an ecosystem usually meant...

"... population expansion. The Nekross already had space travel and were in a surprisingly densely-populated system. They were also an aggressive, imperialistic race and so they quickly expanded..."

...quick population growth and, she struggled to remember her old biology classes, a sudden population collapse when they grew past the ecosystem's limits. Especially if the organism...

"...completely reliant on a single food source. The Nekross had engineered themselves into an evolutionary dead end. Two hundred years ago, they realised they had exhausted their empire's supply of magic. So they went looking for more. And here we are."

The last point had drawn Spiers' attention. He'd settled himself down in the back, preferring to be quietly observant than to dominate the conversation. Rank could have an effect on file that wasn't always positive and he didn't want to stifle discussion.

He waved his hand toward Benny who gestured for him to speak.

"How many other planets are the Nekross currently mining for food?"

"None," answered Tom softly, "We're the last planet with magic in the known universe. Or so they believe."

"So, tactically that would mean?"

"When the Nekross first came, we put up a Shroud - a magical shield - to hide us from them. We tried to intercede when they came to Earth to grab Wizards. But our plan was to hide until they were forced to leave."

"You mean until they starved?"

Sun winced. That was blunt, although Spiers was known for that.

"Until they left," Tom corrected him. "But, yes. We try not to think about it: I'd like to think there's a third way. But, yes, if they don't get wizards they starve. All 230 billion of them."

"So what you're saying is, they're motivated?" That was a Sergeant Benson, British Army. She didn't know him very well.

"Yes," Tom agreed. "They're motivated. So are we. In case I haven't made it clear, extraction kills wizards. This is not like a... an annual blood drive. Unless the Red Cross has started draining their volunteers to death."

"It doesn't explain why we shouldn't just hand you all over. No more wizards but the Nekross leave. We're all safe."

"Sergeant!" she interrupted him forcefully, "If you're suggesting we murder 1.2 million innocent people to..."

"Sun," Spiers stepped in, "it's a valid strategic question. You know it is. But Varg as much as said he wanted to add Earth to the 'Nekross empire'. So let's assume he's not going anywhere unless we make him. Tom?"

Tom, to her amazement, seemed completely unflustered by Benson's outburst. She remembered herself at 18: she had believed herself to be self-assured but this was something different. Of course, nobody had threatened to sacrifice her life to stop a war when she was that age. But she imagined if they had tried she'd have been terrified. Maybe it was magic. Maybe it was fighting a secret war from the age of 16.

"I could try to explain to you why wizards are necessary,' Tom said simply, "Why a world without them is not one that you would want to live in. But it's not something you can understand until you see it for itself. So you can believe me or not. You can hand me over or not. It's up to you. But you will not like the consequences. And that I can guarantee."

"Now," Benny stepped forward to continue the presentation, "we have a brief overview of the Nekross political hierarchy and then a demonstration of magic. Who wants to see me disappear?'

That broke the tension in the room, which she suspected was the point. The boys had dealt with that well. Impressively well for their age - even if they were a warrior wizard and a genius who had completed four A levels at 16 and was currently studying physics at Cambridge.

"Nekron is an absolute monarchy. During the initial invasion, the Zarantulas was captained by the Nekross King and his two children, Varg and Lexi. Two years ago, there was an attempted coup during which..."

Something about the briefing was niggling at her. She wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was the fact that they knew little about the situation on the Zarantulas at the moment. They'd only seen Varg so far. What about the crew? What about this gluttonous and discredited King. What about his sister, Lexi?

That was it. She sat forward in her chair as she remembered. It had even been in her dossier this morning. The question everyone had been too distracted to ask. The obvious question right there in front of them all.

 _After what you did to my sister_

She raised her hand, "What about Lexi? Is she here too?"

It was a large room and there were lights on him. Maybe he didn't hesitate. Maybe he didn't blanch.

"Lexi's gone," he said gruffly.

"For which we should be grateful," Benny added genially.

"Why?"

"Because Lexi was the smart one," Tom answered, "Varg's somewhat of a... blunt instrument... as you've probably noticed. Lexi was the one who was," he struggled for a moment, clearly trying to find the right word, "... cunning."

"So what did Varg mean when he said he wanted revenge for his sister."

Tom sighed, "Lexi got a lethal dose of radiation during the coup. I guess he blames it on me. Any other questions?"

* * *

"Tom."

It was Joc. He'd headed toward his car with a nonchalant gait. A guy going home after a nice evening out. Dinner with friends after an entire day briefing an integrated military taskforce on an alien threat he planned to fight with magic.

As you do.

"Jocasta. What are you doing? I thought you were getting the bus."

"I am. Listen, about the Nekross thing..."

"Joc, don't."

"No, Tom. I may not be a warrior wizard but I'm still a wizard. And you can't do this alone. You need backup."

"I'm not alone. I have Benny."

"Magical backup, Tom. Look, if you won't accept my help - and I don't blame you because my magic's never exactly been the most impressive. I'm like your Gran but with training wheels, which is saying something really because her spells are pretty well mostly 50/50 or possibly 60/40 and..."

"Joc!"

She breathed in the last of the sentence and finished, "What I mean is, if you don't want me then call on one of the other Lines. Raven or Hawke. One of the Warrior Lines. Or even the Harriers."

"I don't want to get anyone else involved, especially not the other warrior lines."

"Why not?"

He hesitated. He'd been doing that a lot lately. Even she noticed and she knew she never noticed anything. Katie had been furious with her over dinner and she still had no idea why.

"I don't want to risk them. If the Nekross destroy enough warrior wizards they could tear the Line of Twilight."

She gave an ambivalent shrug at that, "I heard the Line is already tearing."

Tom started, "Where did you hear that?"

"Ah, Line of Owl. Even if I did end up with the name 'Smith'. We may not be able to open a bottle of Brown Sauce without it exploding but we hear things. Morrigan Eagle found a tear this week according to the network. She sent a group of Elves packing apparently. Or maybe it was one Elf, I think it was just one Elf. Or maybe a Troll? But it was definitely something that shouldn't be this side of the Line. Serious tear. I heard they suspect a wizard."

"What do you mean? Why would they suspect that?"

"I know. Incredible, isn't it? But the Eagles are saying they think someone is messing with the magic of the line. Trying to draw magic from the Neverside or something. I mean, that would be insane, right? Proper Warlock stuff. Hey, are you ok? You look a bit shell shocked or something."

"I'm fine. Look, Joc, thanks for offering to help. I appreciate it. But I've got to go? You know what my Dad's like."

"Ok. Just think about it , yeah? I'm happy to help. And if not me then someone."

"Yeah. Absolutely."

She turned and walked towards the bus stop, an athlete's bounce in her step as she rounded the corner.

When he realised she'd gone, he slid into his car and put the key in the ignition. And then he called his Dad and told him he'd be out longer than expected. And he drove to Burnt Hill.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5  
_

The worst part of war was the waiting.

People - people she met socially or in supermarkets or watched on television news programmes about the war de jour - seemed to imagine war as an ongoing, ever-present battle. But she had been in enough war zones to understand the veneer of normality that hid the strain of waiting. War was mostly tedium with a chaser of pure terror.

She wondered what it must have been like in the trenches of World War I, spending hours, days, weeks in freezing, wet dirt. Playing cards and killing time while you waited, waited, waited. Waited to die.

Varg had threatened them. He'd showed his strength. He'd revealed magic to the world. And then he had done nothing.

The wonder twins - as her staff had started to call Tom and Benny - assured them that Varg would make his move soon. And they were gathering information to try to work out what that move would be.

They puttered round the lab on site muttering about the merging of magic and Nekross tech. Sun had not yet reported to Spiers that they _had_ Nekross tech. The Chiefs of Staff would go ballistic to find out that a bunch of teenagers had been squirreling away advanced alien technology. For years. And she wasn't British Amy anyway.

Tom had cast a shielding spell over the Factory so it couldn't be targeted directly again. Or rather he'd used a spell to power a device Benny had built that was apparently a magically-enhanced dampening field.

She hadn't put that in any of her reports either. And at some point that was going to bite her right in the behind.

"Can you imagine what we could do with this technology in the Middle East?" Benson said to her as she stood in the kitchen, pouring herself yet another cup of dishwashing detergent, otherwise known as Blend 43.

Yes, she could, she thought. That's why she hadn't told her superiors about it yet.

* * *

"Tom, do you need a lift home?"

"It's not really on your way, Theresa."

"It's not that far out of it. Come on. It's getting late."

She had meant to broach the topic in the car but somehow instead they had settled into an awkward silence, punctuated by Tom fiddling with various buttons in her car while she resisted the urge to smack him like a naughty child.

"Surely you have maps on your phone?"

"Yeah, but I can't look at them while I'm driving."

"I fail to see why a wizard would need GPS anyway."

"I guess it depends on where you want to go. Or if you ever have the time to get there."

She wasn't sure what to say to that. When he said things like that, it made her think of the pendant, still nestled in its own pocket in her jacket. Always with her.

"Well, we're here," she said brightly as she pulled up the driveway to his Dad's house.

"Thanks." They both got out of the car and she moved with him up the path toward the front door.

"Tom, do you mind if I come in for a chat? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure. We'll go out back. Gran's less likely to be able to eavesdrop then."

Gran, it turned out, wasn't anywhere to be seen. Although if she understand the 'Threshold of Enchantment' concept properly, that didn't mean she couldn't pop out unexpectedly from somewhere. The new normal seemed to have made her life a lot more unpredictable.

Theresa wasn't sure what to make of his home. It was the first wizard's home she'd seen and it was so ordinary. Homely but ordinary. The living area flowed into a large, spotless kitchen and then out the back into a cold garden.

"Your apple tree is fruiting."

He gave a smile that was almost melancholy, "I planted it three years ago. This is its first crop. They're small but they're real."

He said the last as though it was an irony. Not for the first time, she wondered what was unsaid in those moments. Sometimes she felt as though she was talking to the boy he was and sometimes she wondered if she was talking to somebody else entirely: somebody much older. No one his age should be as sad as he could be in unguarded moments.

The young were optimistic, energetic, idealistic. It was their greatest asset. And their most annoying quality by far.

Reflexively, she found herself pulling out her pendant and sliding it over head to rest on her breast bone. She was off duty after all.

"It must have been hard," she asked him, "The Nekross coming. Fighting a war so young."

"No younger than child soldiers everywhere. But, yes." He gave the same pensive smile, "Before that, all I wanted to do was kick a ball around. Tom Clarke, the new Beckham. After the Nekross came, it didn't really matter what I wanted. I was a warrior wizard. This is what we do."

"And now?"

He shook his head as though shaking off the emotion that had momentarily gripped him.

"It's not important. They're here now and then they'll be gone. One way or the other. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"In a way. I've been trying to figure out Varg's next move. Or rather why he hasn't made one. He's clearly waiting for something and I suspect you know what it is. Or at least have an idea."

Tom nodded, "I have theories. But nothing that's strong enough to tell you."

"The thing is, Tom, I don't believe you. And the other thing is, I've been thinking about the rose petals."

"The petals? What about them?"

"I've been watching you the last couple of days and you know what I realised? I realise you don't make mistakes with your spells. Now, your Gran? That's a different story. We're still trying to catch all the cockroaches she summoned instead of the cookies we were supposed to have for our morning tea. I think they're breeding somewhere."

"Yeah, she can be a bit unpredictable."

"But you don't make those kinds of mistakes. Ever. Not that I've seen."

"Well, it was a stressful day."

"And you don't buckle under stress either. Or thrive on it for that matter: you're no adrenaline junkie. You just deal with it. You deal with it better than some Generals I know."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying Varg exposed magic because he wanted the world to turn against wizards. To flush you out, force you all out of hiding. You even said that yourself. And the power to destroy missiles? Well, that's pretty terrifying. But the power to rain down flowers on people's homes? Well, that. That's," _beautiful, she wanted to stay. It was beautiful, you were beautiful_ , "much less scary. Even comforting."

 _"_ You think I did it deliberately?"

"I think you're smarter than you want people to know. And I think you use Benny as a shield to hide it. The world should have reacted to the existence of magic with horror and fear: especially magic that powerful. But you made it look benign."

Tom said nothing; just keep looking at her expectantly, waiting for her finish.

"Yes, I think you did it deliberately. And I'm about 85 per cent sure you're the one who put Samual Shrike on the news as well. Now there's a figurehead - if you want to make magic look and sound a lot less frightening.

"Varg thought the world would be terrified of you and you'd be forced into the light. But who would be scared of a good-looking white boy with flowers? Especially when faced with something that looks like a lizard mated with an octopus."

"Did you just call me good looking?"

"And I'm sure that kind of deflection would work on a girl your age. That's not me. Nobody is asking why the world's armies are currently taking orders from an 18-year-old with a magic book. In fact, they're _demanding_ that we do.

"I think that when you realised Varg was serious about exposing magic, you made sure it was done in a way that limited the fallout and put you in the position you're in. And if that's the case, you also know what Varg is waiting for, why he hasn't made a move. He's waiting for the penny to drop. So I want to know what the penny is and how it's going to fall."

Tom wrapped his arms around himself and walked a few steps forward, looking up at the tree and its small budding fruit.

"Why do I think you already have some idea?"

"You want to know what I think? I think you're stalling. And not just in this conversation. I think you're stalling and so is he. I've already got Benson and other career soldiers salivating over weapons combining science and magic. And you know what I noticed during your briefing when you were talking about your previous encounters with the Nekross?"

Tom sighed and looked back at her, his foot kicking the dirt as he admitted, "That we could have killed them. Five times over. But we didn't."

"You didn't. Because you wouldn't, would you? You and Sherwood could have destroyed them years ago. You could destroy them all right now. Today. Especially with every military in the world behind you. Nekross technology is formidable but that's only one ship in orbit. That can't be much of a challenge, not for _Tom Clarke, warrior wizard of the magical line of Crowe_.

"So I ask myself, if Varg wants the world to turn against wizards, maybe all he has to do is wait. What's going to happen when the rest of the world realises you intend to fight this war without bloodshed? That there's no way you're going to let _any_ military have the weapons you and Benny have made. Wizards protect the unenchanted. Isn't that what you said? All of them? Not just one nationality or one continent? Somehow I doubt you're going to let one nation have tech they can use against another. So what's going to happen when people realise that?"

Tom laughed without humour, "What's going to happen when they decide to destroy the Nekross themselves and Varg asks for our help to stop them?"

"So it's not just that you're not allowed to kill. You also can't stand by and let others be killed?"

"Not if we can stop it. And only if we can do it without hurting either side."

"Even alien invaders who want to eat you?"

"Even then."

And Varg knows this?"

"Yes, Varg knows this. His... his sister would have told him. I doubt he would have worked it out himself. Lexi was always the smart one."

"But Lexi's gone?"

Tom looked down at his foot still digging a hole in the Earth, "Yes, Lexi's gone."

"And you don't want to talk about that. Yes, I've noticed that too."

"So," she continued, "Varg's stalling."

"Yes, Varg's stalling."

"And you?"

"I don't... I don't know what to do," he admitted, the truth rushing out of him suddenly, "I know I look like I do. But I don't. We've been fighting a war of attrition and so have they. But we had the advantage. All we had to do was hide and wait. And it worked: the Nekross imploded and they left. But now they're back and..."

"... and they're not going to let you use the same tactics. They're going to force a war with the unenchanted that will turn the planet against you and then grab you up when you're on the run."

"And all I did was delay them. I keep hoping they'll just get so hungry that they try to find another way. But it's personal for Varg now. He's not listening to... he's not going to listen to reason. I know I'm supposed to have a plan. But I don't. I don't have a plan. And every day we don't attack the Nekross, people are going to start to ask why."

Theresa walked over to the table and chairs in the yard near an old brick BBQ that looked like it hadn't been used in years. She sat down with a sigh, wishing she wasn't in her dress uniform. She preferred tracksuit pants and sneakers when she was off duty. There wasn't much of a choice between fashion and comfort as far as she was concerned. Friends were frequently stunned to find she only owned six pairs of shoes - and three of those were military issue.

She gave Tom a long appraising look, which he calmly returned. Then she sighed again and shook her head.

"I don't suppose you could magic me up something alcoholic?"

"Actually, no. But I could just look in the house. My Dad drinks sometimes. Wizards usually don't. Alcohol and magic? Yeah, they don't mix."

"Well, I could use one right now."

He went inside leaving her to contemplate the standard dreariness of an English backyard. She missed the crisp winter of home more than anything on days like this.

"Can I ask you something?"

Tom had reappeared with a bottle of light beer and a cup of hot chocolate for himself. It wasn't entirely what she'd been hoping for but it'd have to do.

She took a swig and nodded, "Sure." He was clearly trying to change the subject but maybe that was a good thing. For now.

"The pendant you're wearing. The one you keep in your pocket at work?"

She pulled the silver locket from beneath her shirt, "This one?"

"I was wondering about it. It obviously means a lot to you."

She took it off and handed it to him.

"Here."

He threw her a searching look and then opened the heart and looked inside.

The child was 7. Maybe 8. Gap teethed. Bobbed black hair. Her mother's eyes.

"It belonged to my daughter: a gift from her grandmother. She loved it. I thought it was kitsch and ugly as anything. But I couldn't get her to stop wearing it."

"She looks, I mean, no offence, but, aren't you too young to have a daughter this age?"

"When I was 15 I joined the Canadian Army Reserves. My Dad was army and it was all I wanted to do. I met a boy there and fell madly in love, as only a teenager can. In case they didn't tell you in sex-ed, condoms do break."

"You got pregnant?"

"My mother's from a very traditional Chinese family. She was furious. She told me I'd ruined my life, my career. That I'd never have anything and I should get an abortion. My Dad was hands down the strictest Dad I knew so I was expecting him to be the same."

"But he wasn't?"

"No. He was amazing. He told me the world had changed, the army had changed and if I wanted to do both then I could do both. So I did."

"What about the baby's father?"

"He ran about as far away from the situation as he could. I haven't seen him for years. But I met somebody else. He loved her like she was his own. Things were pretty great."

The word sat there for a while between them while he ran his thumb gently over the Chinese symbols on the front of the heart. _Were_.

"I put that there afterwards. It means 'remembrance of the departed'."

"How?"

"Brain cancer when she was 8. Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. Incurable. Inoperable. And always fatal."

"I'm sorry," he said simply, head still down as he studied the pendant in his hand. He closed his fist around it and said again, "I'm so sorry."

He was crying, she realised. Even with his head determinedly down so she wouldn't see, he was clearly crying. He was more upset than she would have expected. You never knew how people would react to being told.

"If she died when she was 8, then that means she only died last year."

"Just over a year ago, actually."

"But you're here in England, working."

"The thing about loss, Tom, is that it doesn't change you. People say that but it's not true. What it does is strip you down to who you really are. It makes you more _you_.

"And if you're a workaholic married to a domestic goddess whose idea of a good time is preparing dinner for his family then things are great. You work, they stay home with your daughter. Every base is covered. You both get what you want out of the relationship and out of life. Until things go wrong. Then you deal with your grief by working more. But he..."

"Wants you home with him so you can grieve together," Tom finished for her, "So he feels abandoned and you feel trapped."

"Exactly. Losing a child either binds you together more deeply or it completely tears you apart. There's no middle ground. But I sincerely hope that's a lesson you never have to learn."

He took a tissue out of his pocket, wiped his eyes and handed the pendant back to her. As he did, he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. That was another thing she'd noticed the last few days; how tactile he was. He touched people, put his arms around them, took their hands. Just like this. It was an oxytocin trigger. No wonder people were drawn to him.

"It has magic, you know," he said, "I could feel it. First moment we met."

"Really?" She looked down at it in astonishment, remembering all the times she'd held it for comfort or reassurance. Maybe that was something she already knew.

"I mean, everything has magic. It's in everything. But sometimes objects that mean something can take on more, especially when it comes to someone we love. It's more powerful than people realise."

She dropped his hand and put the pendant back under her shirt where she felt it belonged.

"You didn't tell me all this so I'd be more likely to trust you, did you?" he asked. "Because we're going to have to work together and I'd hate to think you were manipulating me."

"Maybe a little. But maybe also because, I don't know. I feel like I can talk to you. I feel like you'll understand. Maybe it's the war, maybe it's the responsibility of magic, but sometimes you seem so much older than you should be; older than me even. And, for the record, trust is a two-way street. So, I admit it freely. Maybe if I tell you this you'll feel you can tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Whatever it is you're still not telling me."

"What if I told you that it won't help? That it's just another complication that you don't need to be worrying about."

"I'd say that I'll be the judge of that."

"And if I don't tell you? Will you still have my back? Because that's why we're having this conversation here, right, and not back at the Factory? Why you haven't told Spiers any of this? Because you know what'll happen if there's a head-on confrontation between Earth and the Nekross?"

"All I know is that a soldier's job is to save lives. If that means fighting, then we fight. But if we have the means to prevent a war? Then that's what we do. So, yes, I hope you'll trust me enough to tell me everything. But I'll still have your back, Tom. And for now all of this stays between us."

"Ok. Then what I really need is time."

"Then I'll get you some."

* * *

 **I was notorious in the Merlin fandom for telling people I was going to write a "quick, short story" or a "oneshot" and then having it spiral wildly out of control. I have a feeling I'm going to be here for a while. But that's the problem with OCs. You can't just pick up their relationships from the source text, you have to take the time to deliver it more organically.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

Varg was a blunt instrument. That's what he'd told Theresa and that was true. And yet Varg was being patient for once. There could be only one reason: not that Tom was going to tell anybody what it was. The irony was that Theresa would be the person who would probably understand. But she was also military. Where did one end and the other begin?

"Tom! It's morning. Get up."

He groaned and rolled out of bed. He remembered when he came back from the Neverside. He'd felt this bad then but at least he hadn't known why. He pulled back the curtains and felt the magic flow into him. Even at his most depressed, that was never going to stop being the best feeling in the world.

He thought of a newborn crying in a forest of magic. Maybe the second best. Possibly the third.

"Tom!"

"I'm coming!"

He dragged himself into the kitchen, throwing his schoolbag on the floor with a dispiriting thump.

"Tom, really, you could make a bit of an effort."

"An effort? Seriously?"

Ursula tsked at his father.

"An effort Michael, really? I think Tom's efforts are the problem here."

"What she said," Tom noted as he wandered over to the fridge.

"They've agreed to run a special exam to let him sit his GCSEs later but he's only going to school once a week. And I think he should be giving his education a bit more attention. Cambridge gave Benny a deferral."

"Enough," Tom intervened. "Enough. Dad, I know you're upset about everything. But I don't think more school is the answer."

"Upset? You want to see upset? Get that Brigadier Spiers round here and I'll show you upset. Dragging my son off to fight a war."

"It wasn't him, Dad, and you know it. The Nekross wouldn't deal with anyone else. Varg is making it personal. Even more than usual."

"Well, you're supposed to be concentrating on school. Not doing war briefings and god-knows-what-else. And where were you last night anyway?"

Tom froze, his hand on the refrigerator door, glad his face was hidden by the appliance.

"I told you. I went to Benny's."

"No you didn't, Tom. I called over on my way home from work and you weren't there. But Benny was and he had no idea where you were either."

 _Damn it, Benny, couldn't you have covered for me?_

 _Maybe I would have if you'd told me what you were doing,_ Benny answered mentally. With a sinking feeling, he realised Benny was probably the one who had the right to be mad in this situation. He probably shouldn't bring it up.

"Tom, is that true?" asked a worried Ursula. And now he'd lost his Gran's support. Spectacular.

"I just wanted to take some time out. To think."

"With aliens hunting you? With the tears in the Line of Twilight?"

"Wait," Michael said with some force, "What tears in the Line of Twilight? You never told me this."

"I'm sorry, Michael, but this is Wizard business. The Network of Mirrors is all abuzz with the news. They're saying a wizard is trying to use magic to break through the Line. To get to the Neverside."

"Why would any wizard do that? Isn't the Line the only thing keeping the Dayside from the Neverside?"

"Yes. Yes. And there are Neverways and sources of magic like the Chamber or the Stones. But they have gatekeepers. Limits. Rules. The Neverside has raw magic. They say it's a wizard trying to get the source."

Tom schooled his expression, grabbed the juice, yelled "Here it is!" for effect and then closed the fridge and walked to the cupboard for the glass.

"So there are tears in the Line," he said with some of his old bravado, "Does it matter? Creatures from the Neverside have been getting through for forever. Didn't you say Grandad ran into a Neverway after a vampire?"

"But there are so many. And it's even worse. They say the only wizard who could do it is a warrior wizard."

"Why a warrior wizard?" Michael asked her, throwing Tom a look he could only describe as inscrutable.

"Because the warrior lines were created when the Line was made. The warrior wizard families were the ones who cast that spell in the first place. Only their magic could disrupt the Line like this. Oh, Tom, please I need you to be careful."

Tom shrugged and popped some bread in the toaster, "I always am Gran. Don't worry. I've dealt with worse. You know that."

"You're being very calm about this, Tom," his Dad said, throwing a second expression his way.

"Maybe I just have bigger things to deal with. Like going to school during an alien invasion. Now, Gran, where on Earth have you put the butter this time? And, yes, I already checked the oven."

* * *

 _5:00. The Common_. JT15.

The message came up on his phone just as he was leaving school. It had been a strange day. He hadn't been back since the Nekross invaded and he'd been put in special classes away from his friends. Other students whispered and pointed in the corridors and he couldn't remember a more miserable day in that building. So much of his life before they went public had been spent at school trying to appear normal. And now he was _the wizard_ everywhere he went.

He'd accessed the Worldwide Wizarding Web, as Benny still insisted on calling it, after the revelation and had asked other wizards to stay hidden. It may look like the world had accepted the existence of magic but he had no idea what people would do when they realised a family of wizards were living next door.

He spent lunch with the old gang, missing Benny but laughing with Katie about how close Quinn and Joc were sitting. Tom needed to have a word with her about it. Quinn was still reeling from finding out Tom was a wizard. Who knew how he'd react to the brash athlete he clearly fancied being one as well?

Tom's military escort was waiting for him outside the school: uniforms, bullet-proof car, straight backs, sparse smiles. He briefly considered ditching them but decided they didn't matter. He needed information and it's not like they were going to understand what they were seeing anyway.

"Can you take me to the Common?" he asked them, "I need to go for a run."

They nodded and opened the door for him, seemingly unbothered by the fact he was wearing his normal uniform and didn't have any kit. That was soldiers for you.

They dropped him off just before 5:00 and he wandered off out of sight of the car before looking around for him. The Common was deserted so he saw him almost immediately.

Tom laughed. He'd programmed the form filter to look like Benny. But not Benny. Benny but older, taller, more angular. Slightly redder. Benny if he was a Nekross pretending to be a Benny. A six-foot Benny with auburn hair.

"Nice body," he said ironically as he came up behind.

"Oh, Tom Clarke. I'm afraid you scared me."

"So how have you been, Jethro? Still alive, I see."

"Ah, yes, our Excellency the King Regent has seen fit to let me live."

"Let me guess - as a slave?"

"Well, yes."

"And how's your mother? I can't imagine they were as merciful to her?"

"No, I'm afraid my mother was..."

"Eaten?"

"Yes."

"Got to love that Nekross justice system. So now you want to conspire with me to get revenge?"

"Yes. Well, no. Well, yes. I mean, yes and no."

"Can you be any vaguer? Come on, Jethro, you contacted me. Not that I'm going to turn down the opportunity to find out what's really going on up there."

"Ah, yes. Well, that I can help you with. When we returned to Nekron there was a great deal of uncertainty. People were outraged at the King's behaviour but just as outraged at us. I'm afraid the Nekross tend to prefer stability. They'll happily follow someone who stabs a ruler in private, but do it publicly and they get upset."

"Well, your coup was just a little bit public, Jethro."

"Yes. Yes it was. Very public. Varg was the only heir left standing so he took control. I don't know what concessions he made to the nobility but, in the end, the King retired into seclusion and he took the throne as regent."

"So basically nothing changed?"

"I'm afraid not. My mother wasn't wrong, you know. Nekross society can be extremely harsh and the King was hoarding magic for himself. Things do need to change."

"But you hoped they'd change in a way that benefited you," Tom finished.

"That's not how I would have put it."

"But we all know that's what you're thinking, Jethro. So how about we stop pretending your family was motivated by altruism. Besides, Varg is not his father. You may not have the brightest King in the heavens but he'd never let people starve."

"For now. But in the long term he may not have much choice in the matter. Magic is, as the humans say, a non-renewable resource."

"This from the man who wanted to blow up Earth to rip a hole in the Neverside."

"Yes, well, it seemed like a good plan at the time."

"Sure, so is digging up more coal to power the air-conditioning we're going to need."

"I'm afraid I don't get the reference."

Tom shook his head, "My point is that trying to find more magic is not going to solve your problem. And, for the record, it is a renewable resource. But the way you lot approach it, you're like somebody who needs solar power blowing up the sun."

"I've been forced to come to the same conclusion. His Excellency the King Regent seems fixed on extracting Earth's magic. I'm afraid he's not making more long-term plans. He seems somewhat blinded by his personal feelings about his sister."

"And so you come to me. What do you want me to do about it? You don't think I tried to meet with him after he came back? He won't see me."

"My people believe Lexi is dead. That's what her brother told everyone. I wasn't there on the Zarantulas so I'm not sure what really happened. But I do know he appears to be looking for her. I am his technician after all. And his slave. I doubt he would be searching if she was as dead as he made out."

"I knew it," Tom said, "He exposed me to the unenchanted so he could follow me to Lexi."

"He's rather frustrated that so far his tactic hasn't seemed to have worked."

"And it won't. Did he really think I didn't know what he was doing?"

"He's very frustrated, Tom Clarke. _Very_ frustrated."

"You mean he's going to lose his temper and attack soon? That will just rally the unenchanted around me."

"Not when they see your wizarding code in action. When they realise you won't kill to protect them or yourself, they'll decide turning you over is the best way to avoid more deaths. You and every other wizard. They will sacrifice you for the _greater good_. I imagine some of your new unenchanted friends in your world's armies are already suggesting it."

"Now, see, that doesn't sound like Varg talking. That sounds like Lexi."

"That's because this was Lexi's plan. One of many stored in the Zarantulus' computers. And one she eventually rejected when she realised that the Nekross had to change."

 _Now how did he know that?_ A thought occurred to him; one that had been knocking around inside his mind since the Technician had contacted him directly.

"Jethro, are you here because you're working for Lexi?"

Jethro smirked; a strange look on an elongated Benny-esque face. Benny had many expressions but all of them were earnest.

"If I did decide to give my support to an alternative and legitimate contender for the throne and if that contender had offered me emancipation in exchange for my support, well, I'd be better off keeping that to myself for the moment."

Tom took a moment to consider the situation. Jethro had said he didn't know what had happened on the Zarantulas. That much was clear or they wouldn't be having this conversation. But even with everything she'd been through recently, Lexi still wouldn't consider rejoining her people, would she? The bottom dropped out of his stomach and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick.

 _Lexi, what are you playing at?_

"Hands up, both of you."

It was his military escort, guns drawn; even-more-serious expressions on their serious faces.

"Spiers would like to speak with you back at the Factory."

"Spectacular!" Tom exclaimed with a resigned sigh.

* * *

"You told your escort you wanted to go for a run. For the first time ever. In your school uniform. In _those shoes_. Then you got out of the car and went to meet with somebody we don't have on your acquaintances list. _I'm_ starting to think you don't think we're very bright."

The room he was in had been built for possible interrogations. It hadn't been used until now and Tom thought it may have been ironic that he was the first one in it. It was small, windowless, white, with a single table and two chairs. He was glad he wasn't claustrophobic.

"So, my escort aren't there for my protection," he said, "They're there to spy on me."

"They're there to keep everyone safe. You and us. Your friend is in a containment cell. We found technology on him that he shouldn't have. Technology with a Nekross energy signature. We tried to remove it. We couldn't. It seems to be bonded to him on a cellular level."

 _That one was new. Quite the improvement there, Jethro. You and I need to talk about that one._

"Well, he is a genius."

"I'm afraid the flippant, anti-authority teen act isn't going to work on me, Clarke. Major Sun isn't the only one here with eyes. But she does seem to be the only one being coy on her reports."

Tom took a deep calming breath and sighed, "What do you want to know?"

"Who is he? And why does he look like your friend Sherwood was put through a penny pressing machine?"

"What's a penny pressing machine?"

"You know, a machine that flattens coins? Like a rolling mill. People flatten them and collect them. Look, it doesn't matter. What matters is you telling me what's going on."

Tom shrugged, forcing it to look nonchalant, "I need intel. I'm going to find a way of getting it. That's all you need to know."

Spiers put his hands on the table and stood up, looming over Tom in a way he knew was deliberately designed to be intimidating. He may have been a slim 40-something with greying hair but he was a Brigadier. Tom imagined this may have worked on someone who hadn't faced down alien invaders in middle school.

"I think it's time I reminded you who's running this unit. And I don't mind telling you that we're not as impressed as you think we are. I don't like the level of disclosure that's happening here. And I don't like your relationship with my attache either. Neither does NATO command and that doesn't bode well for her career."

 _Crap, he wasn't expecting that. Had it really been that unusual? Yes, she'd covered for him but only because she was trying to help the situation. It's not like she was compromised._

"You have Nekross technology. You're hiding things from us. You clearly know things about the enemy you haven't told us. And now you're having secret meetings with, whom? A spy? A mole?"

"I can't answer that question. I'm sorry," Tom said genuinely.

"Well, you're going to answer that question. And a lot more questions as well."

Tom leaned forward, his face serious as he looked the Brigadier in the eye.

"Do you really think you can threaten me?" he said softly. "What makes you think I'm scared of any of you."

"Nobody denies you're powerful. But from what I've seen your father isn't. Or your friends. What do you call them? Call us? Unenchanted? They're your weakness. You said so yourself."

"Are you threatening my family?"

"What I'm doing is fighting a war. And what I want to know is what _you're_ doing. Because so far you don't seem to be doing much of anything."

Tom leaned back and crossed his hands across his chest.

"Maybe what I'm doing is trying to prevent one."

At that, the Brigadier seemed to relax and sat back down again.

"Then work with us. I know some of my staff can be _gung ho_ but that doesn't mean the Chiefs want war. Or NATO. Or the UN for that matter. I know that wizardkind has been hiding for hundreds of years and judging from history I don't blame you. But you've got to stop acting like you've got two enemies, Tom. We're supposed to be on your side."

Tom nodded and paused for a moment before saying, "Look, my source had information I needed. That's all. But if I told you, you'd want to know how he got it and that would put his position in danger. Also his life but I'm... struggling to care about that."

"So you have a source of intelligence on the Nekross and you were worried about him being burned?"

"Yes."

"Ok, then. I can work with that."

"Really?

"Really. You think I don't understand what it means to run a source? I've been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you."

"So you'll let him go?"

"Right now. But I'm going to need a report on the tech he's wearing. Eventually."

Tom gave a small smile, "I can do eventually."

"Good."

He stood up and moved to open the door to the interrogation room and Tom mirrored him, stopping for a moment before he went through it.

"Just to be clear, Brigadier. If I even think you're threatening someone I love again, you won't like my response. Ally or not."

"Understood."

He held out his hand and after a beat Tom took it. Then they both walked down the makeshift containment cells where Jethro was rather miserably sitting on a hard, flat bench that seemed to double as a bench.

There was a tall blonde man outside the cells. He looked vaguely familiar but before he had time to process where he knew him from, Benny came up and threw his arms around him.

"Tom! I'm so glad you're ok. I've been freaking out. Some of Spiers' men haven't been happy about their new prisoner looking so much like me but they haven't dragged me in for questioning just yet."

He dropped his voice, "I'm sorry about not covering for you last night. But why didn't you tell me you were meeting Jethro?"

 _Because I wasn't._

"Sorry, Benny, I was just trying to protect you."

"Well, stop, alright. We're supposed to be in this together."

"Ok. Sorry."

He turned to the cell as Sargent Benson turned the key and slid it open.

"You're free to go, Jethro," he said, "Let's hope nobody noticed you were gone."

Jethro wordlessly walked out of the cell and then started in fear when he saw the tall, blonde man in the corridor.

Tom remembered where he knew him from.

"Varg!" he yelled, as the man grabbed Jethro and put a Nekross blaster to this head.

"I think you'll find someone did notice he was gone, Tom Clarke."

He touched the form filter bracelet on his arm and the image flickered and died, leaving the Nekross Regent in its place.

"Thank you for detaining my slave. I have been looking for him all afternoon."

The soldiers around them drew their weapons but hesitated as they tried to process what was happening. Tom saw Theresa come out of a room behind Varg, pull her handgun and fire at Varg's head. It bounced harmlessly off some kind of forcefield.

"Your primitive Earth weapons as are useless against a Prince of Nekron as Tom Clarke's magic. But do not worry. I am just here to retrieve a traitor."

"But how?" Theresa asked him, still clearly recovering from her bullet having no effect. "How did you look human?"

Varg used his other hand to deactivate Jethro's disguise and the Taskforce soldiers stood by in confusion as he morphed into a Nekross as well.

"It seems that Tom Clarke did not tell you about our form filter technology. Interesting. I wonder why.

"Varg to Zarantulas. I have found the Scorpulus' next meal. It is time."

And they were all still standing there, impotently waving weapons, when the white beams of a transport whisked them away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Gran, when would you use a Spell of Perpetuity?"

"A Spell of Perpetuity, Thomas? Why on Earth would you be asking me about that? Who told you about that?"

"Moon. And before you get mad, I asked him."

"Well, he still shouldn't have told you."

"And why not? Seriously, Gran, this has to stop. You're not helping me by keeping information from me. Not knowing about something isn't going to stop me from doing it, it just means I may not do it safely. This is Grim magic all over again. If you'd told me about that, I never would have used it. Instead I blundered in thinking I'd discovered something new."

"I'm sorry, Thomas, you're right. I think your father and I have this instinct to protect you from some things. After what happened with your mother."

"And maybe you had a point when I was 12. I'm not 12 anymore and in case you hadn't noticed, I'm dealing with a lot right now. More than I think you and Dad realise. Ignorance is not helping me."

"Ok, then, what did you want to know?"

"Moon said the Line of Twilight was a perpetual spell and the shroud as well. What I want to know is why it's a perpetual spell. Why would the spell need to be renewed like that?'

"Oh dear, you really have been friends with Benny for too long, haven't you?'

"Gran!"

"I don't know, Thomas. You know wizards don't ask questions like that. Things just are. Some spells require more than one wizard. Some spells require perpetuity. I don't know.

"But, say I changed a person into a rat. They'd stay a rat until I changed them back, right?'

"Yes."

"What if I changed a rat into a person?"

"Well then they'd change back by the next sunrise."

"See, I remember you telling me that when I was a kid but I still don't know why."

"Neither do I. Maybe it's because a human is so complex. It's not enough to cast the spell, you'd need to re-cast it every day."

"So if I wanted to turn a rat into a person permanently, I'd need to cast it into perpetuity?"

"Yes. Yes, absolutely. But why would you? I would think the rat would be happier being a rat. Don't you?"

"Maybe. Maybe the rat was human for a day and liked it."

"What an odd thing to say, Thomas."

And she didn't say anything else for almost a minute; just stared at him for the longest time, realisation dawning over her face.

"Oh, Thomas, please don't do anything stupid."

"I'll do whatever I have to, Gran. I have no choice."

* * *

There are still things that can come as a surprise to you, even if you're as self-aware as Theresa Sun was. Like how upset she was upon hearing a certain wizard had been detained for questioning.

She'd told herself she was helping him to avoid war; to keep wizardkind safe. She told herself that when it came to a war between wizards and aliens then perhaps the unenchanted should place more stock in alternative strategies than they usually did. Because the world had changed and the military had to change with it.

All these things were true and until that moment she'd believed those motivations completely. So it had come as a surprise to find it was mostly sophistry.

 _Get a grip, Theresa, he's a child._

Except that he wasn't. In some way she couldn't quite quantify, he wasn't. In that sparse, cold English garden, she'd looked into his eyes and she'd seen it. He'd understood her and everything she'd been through. Completely. No child could do that. They could sympathise but to really _understand?_ It wasn't possible. _But he had_.

And as she sat in the conference room waiting to be debriefed by an impatient Spiers, she had to admit to the truth. She was compromised. All her hard work and it came down to this.

"You're pathetic," she said to herself in the empty room.

She could hear the bustle of a normal day in the Factory outside the door. And then she heard yelling. And then she heard the word, "Varg!" And then she ran. And now she was here. And once again she had no idea what to do next.

* * *

"The Nekross can disguise themselves as humans!"

As the bright light of the teleporter faded away, the soldiers around Tom stood in silent shock. Their weapons were still drawn and they didn't seem to have realised they no longer had a target.

Tom looked at Theresa, her still gun pointed at empty air. She met his eyes and shook her head; her lips settling into anger. Spiers started yelling almost as soon as the disturbed ions had settled from the aliens' passage.

"How long has he been in this facility?"

"About an hour," answered Benson, "he came in with a defence force civilian pass. We thought he was here to do an internal security check."

"Tell me you didn't give him access to our systems?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, he had the credentials and he looked completely human."

"I don't understand," said Benny to Tom, "I had the internal monitors scanning for him. It should have set off an alarm the minute he tried to get into the Factory."

"You knew about this?" Spiers said angrily, "Both of you knew about this."

"Yes," Benny told him, "but..." He looked at Tom for inspiration.

"But we didn't want to set off a panic," improvised Tom, "if people knew that the Nekross could use technology to look like humans there'd be chaos. We don't want people being attacked in the street for wearing bangles."

"That's why you didn't announce it on television," said Theresa, "It doesn't explain why you didn't tell us." _Me_.

"The Nekross won't usually use form filters," explained Benny, "They think taking the shape of a human is demeaning. And it's keyed to a specific Nekross physiology so once a form is programmed it doesn't change. We knew Varg's form so we didn't think..."

"Well, you were wrong," Theresa interrupted him, "And that doesn't explain why the technology exists. If the Nekross find the idea demeaning, then why would they invent it?"

"They didn't. Lexi did," said Benny before Tom could stop him.

"Lexi? Varg's sister. I thought she was dead."

Benny and Tom swapped a look. Nobody would have noticed it but Theresa had become somewhat hyperaware of Clarke lately _mental kick_ and she did. Lexi again. When this was over and she could get him alone, she was going to find out what that was about.

 _And your instinct is still to protect him. Damn it. You should ask him about it right here in front of Spiers. Now._

"Varg has worn the form filter before but only because Lexi ordered him to," Tom said, "I told you, Lexi was the one with the plans. Only she would consider infiltration. Varg considers it... dishonourable...for want of a better term."

"And yet we had not one but two Nekross using form filters in this facility today."

"Look, the guy in the cells was named Jethro," Tom rushed to explain, "He's a Nekross technician who was part of the coup. His punishment was slavery. He was motivated to undermine Varg's rule and so I leveraged that to get intel. Yes, form filters exist but there's only one form we needed to worry about and we had that programmed into the security system."

 _Varg implied there was another reason. Say something!_

"If the security system was designed to alert us when Varg's form was detected then why didn't it?" was all she said.

Spiers shot her an annoyed look. He was clearly still angry about being left ignorant and wasn't ready to shift to technicalities.

"I don't know," Benny admitted, "I..."

"Sir. Come in, Sir."

It was Benny's radio cracking to life. He gave everyone a resigned look, "Go ahead," he said, pulling it from the top of his trousers and pressing the button to speak.

"Sir, I need to inform you that we have detected the presence of a specific person of interest in the Factory. I apologise, Sir, but it was detected 20 minutes ago. There appears to have been human error involved. The person entered the facility by the south gate at 2043. Their current whereabouts are unknown."

Benny looked at Spiers, shrugged and gave him a sheepish look as if to say that human error was hardly something he could be blamed for.

Spiers shot Tom a determined look and said, "What I want right now..."

Tom never found out what it was because a second alarm went off deep within the Factory, one that he had hoped he wouldn't need.

"What is that now?" Spiers yelled.

"It's a magical alert system," Benny responded. "We programmed it to detect magic. The kind of magic that would break through the Shroud and get the Nekross' attention."

"Are you telling me we can also detect magic?" Theresa demanded and Spiers just shot her a grim look.

"I don't see what.."

"Ma'am." This time it was Sun's radio that went off.

"Major," she barked into the radio.

"Ma'am?"

"My rank is Major, Sargeant. I'm not your... kindergarten teacher."

"Sorry, Major. We're getting a signal here."

"From who?"

"The Nekross ship. It's Varg. He's demanding to speak with all of you. But especially Tom Clarke."

"Well then, let's put the court martial on hold and go and see what he wants now," she said. And she turned on her heel and stalked down the hallway not looking back to see if they were following you.

"Wow, she's mad at you, Tom."

"Yes she is."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Tom shot a look at Spiers.

"I think it's the least of my problems, Bennie."

And he took a deep breath and headed after her.

* * *

 **I had a choice between this chapter being slightly short and reallllyy long so I chose short. Besides, this way I get more reviews *Booming Brian Blessed maniacal laugh*.**

 **Enjoy!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Do you have a girlfriend," she found herself asking. _Bit inappropriate_.

He paused and a strange unknowable expression flickered across his face.

"I used to," he said finally, " We broke up."

"The superhero curse?"

"What?"

"Lying all the time?"

"Actually no. I mean, yes. We used to go out but I was always cancelling. It wasn't really going anywhere. And then it suddenly did. And then she found out I had magic."

"She didn't react well?"

"Oh no, she thought it was cool. For about... a day. I took her along to investigate a magical disturbance in the Line of Twilight and was nearly killed by a Neverside trickster."

Sun laughed in spite of herself, "I don't know what half those words mean."

"Bad magical things happened and she was there."

"Ok."

"She realised her boyfriend could die at any moment. And when he did, she'd probably be at home. Oblivious. All those times I made an excuse not to see her, I could have died and she would never have known what happened."

"That must been hard on her. It's the same with soldiers. Or fireman I suppose."

"Except that those are careers. You have shifts. You're on the job or off it. A wizard is always a wizard. And a warrior wizard...

"My Mum died when I was 10. She picked me up from school and then she got a call about a magical disturbance and...

"Warrior wizards die. Ask my Dad what it's like. He hated magic for years. I wasn't even allowed into the Chamber until the Nekross invaded. He didn't want me to know. And Katie has barely mentioned the word 'magic' to me since she broke up with me."

He remembered the day the Nekross had moved the moon. She'd simply told him to 'deal with it' as though the existence of predatory aliens who wanted to eat him was his fault.

"Is this one of yours?" she'd asked him angrily outside the school in the perpetual twilight of the eclipse.

"I don't know. I think so."

"Then fix it, Tom," she'd said, "That's your job, isn't it? So fix it." And she'd left to find her sister.

He shook himself and forced a smile in Sun's direction.

"I'm sorry," he said, "you asked me a polite question and I gave you the therapy version."

"It seems to be the day for the therapy version."

"I guess it is, isn't it?"

He stood up to go back into the house and get her another beer and she had an unnerving thought.

 _Maybe I wasn't just being polite_.

* * *

"Ma'am." This time it was Sun's radio that went off.

"Major," she barked into the radio.

"Ma'am?"

"My rank is Major, Sargeant. I'm not your... kindergarten teacher."

"Sorry, Major. We're getting a signal here."

"From who?"

"The Nekross ship. It's Varg. He's demanding to speak with all of you. But especially Tom Clarke."

"Well then, let's put the court martial on hold and go and see what he wants now," she said. And she turned on her heel and stalked down the hallway not looking back to see if they were following her.

"Wow, she's mad at you, Tom."

"Yes she is."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Tom shot a look at Spiers.

"I think it's the least of my problems, Bennie."

And he took a deep breath and headed after her.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to find Benny trying to get him to hang back.

"Tom, we need to talk."

"Now?"

"I have a feeling things are about to get out of control. That magical blast the detector picked up - it was big. Neverway big. And I need to know what's going on."

"We don't really have time for this Benny."

"Then make time. Because I need to know what's really going on here. Now."

The hallway was filled with soldiers but Sun and Spiers were nearly at the secure door that led to the Operations Centre.

She turned and looked back at him for a moment as she swiped her access pass and he gave her an abashed look.

 _I'm sorry_ , it clearly said.

And he cast the spell, clicked his fingers and walked through the door that appeared in front of him. He and Benny were gone.

* * *

"Where are we?"

"What does it look like?"

"It looks like a house. No, a cottage. I'd say you cast a Passing Charm but we clearly walked through a Threshold of Enchantment. I didn't know one was in the Factory."

"It wasn't. Until I summoned it."

"Summoned it? Wait, are you saying - is this a chamber of mysteries?"

"It's mine. I made it. It's drawn to my magic, not the bloodline. It comes to me."

"But how are you maintaining it?"

"I'm not. It's.."

"Between the Dayside and the Neverside. Like the Crowe chamber. But that needs Moon to keep it from floating back into the Neverside. So how?"

"It's not fixed. I pull it from the Neverside when I need it. And then it returns until I need it again."

"You have your own chamber? Seriously? Tom, that's... my God, that's amazing!"

Now that he knew what it was, he could see Tom's distinctive influence. The Crowe chamber was all stone and candlelight. Mystical books and mediaeval symbology. But this was more rural, more rustic.

The room had a thatched roof and wooden walls, dirt floor. There was a makeshift bed in one corner; animal pelts thrown over it. A chill in the air. He walked toward one of the walls and it seemed to slide back as he advanced. The cottage looked small but that was an illusion. It could clearly be as big as it wanted to be.

There was a door but when he opened it he didn't see the Factory. He saw instead a forest: immense, overgrown, wild. Familiar. Between the dwelling and the wilderness, there was a clearing. An apple tree in bloom.

 _Oh, Tom,_ Benny thought. _I'm so sorry_.

He stepped outside but as he did, the world twisted and he found himself back in that cottage, stepping through the front door as he'd done a minute before. The cottage was the chamber. And it clearly wasn't going to just let him step into the Neverside.

Tom was seated on a handmade chair near a fireplace, lit and with the facsimile of real warmth. Around his feet were scattered parchments and yellowing scrolls.

"Is that the Wisdom of Crowe?" Benny asked him, recognising some of the symbols.

"Yes. It's what it looks like here. Books came later."

"But why, Tom? Why?"

His friend laughed, "Oh, Benny. One day, something magical will happen and your first question won't be 'why'."

"Well somehow I don't think I'm going to understand the 'how'."

He sat down on a chair next to him, wondering if it was real or just an imagined copy of one Tom had made in a different world, a different life.

"Why, Tom?" he asked him again.

"Because I needed to know I could."

Benny looked back out the door to the magical world beyond the safety of the chamber.

"This, all of this, everything. This is about Lexi, isn't it? It's about Lexi and your son?"

"Of course it is, Benny. It always was."

* * *

"Where did they go?"

Theresa looked at the blank, whitewashed wall where a moment before a door tinged with swirling rainbow magic had appeared and then disappeared.

"Threshold of enchantment," she and Benson said in unison.

She shot him a surprised look.

"Seriously, Major? I'm a technical Staff Sargeant with a degree from DCMT. Who do you think helped Sherwood calibrate the magical sensors in the first place? You're not the only one who's been paying attention around here."

"Well then, I thought that thresholds were fixed."

"They usually are."

"I don't care," Spiers said shortly, "I only know that Clarke and Sherwood are gone and we have Varg demanding to speak with a wizard."

"I can handle that, Sir," offered Benson, "Benny gave me some emergency numbers."

"What kind of emergency numbers?"

Benson shot a look at Sun and to her surprise he seemed to hesitate.

"Sir, there isn't just one warrior wizard. There are nine."

"What? How did I not know about this?"

"You ordered us not to explore the option of handing the wizards to the Nekross, Sir. At the moment, people think Tom Clarke is the only wizard with sufficient magic to fight an enemy like this and the others are all Samual Shrike - completely harmless. If they knew there were more then it may interfere with our 'natural magic' public relations campaign."

"And who made that your decision?"

"You did, Sir, when you gave the order. If the armed forces started openly using multiple wizards then it wouldn't be long before people found out. And if you knew about them you _would_ use them. You'd have no choice."

Spiers shook his head in an almost exhausted resignation.

"What the hell has happened to this taskforce? How is this any way to run a military campaign? What happened to chain of command? To keeping your commanding officer informed?"

"Sorry, Sir, brave new world. Our old way of doings things isn't going to work. And Major Sun obviously felt the same way."

Sun simply nodded, "World changes, army changes with it."

"Then make the calls, Benson. And we'll deal with this insubordination later."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

As she entered the staging area, Sun saw some of the wizards were already there. They were unmistakeable; casual, confident... and young. Very young.

 _Warrior wizards die_.

She wondered what it would feel like? To be that powerful and to know that at any moment you might have to choose between being a monster or your own death? And then to have the strength to choose death. How many didn't? How many in that moment chose life?

 _Warrior wizards die_.

They died and in the end all you had were children fighting an ageless war nobody else knew existed. How many had felt the price was too high? And how much damage could a wizard like that do? They must exist. Tom had even had a word for them. _Warlock._

 _Maybe a warlock was just a warrior wizard who chose life._

There was a flash of magic and a fourth one arrived, older this time and another woman. In fact, there was only one male wizard in the room at all. She smiled internally at that. Tom had explained that magical lines were matrilineal. That's why he was the Line of Crowe through his grandmother and not a Swann. And if he married into a magical line, it would be his wife's lineage that was passed down, not his.

"I am Eva, daughter of the magical line of Starling," she announced to the room.

One of the younger girls, late teens, black hair, excessive eye shadow, took a step forward and inclined her head in respect, "I am Gemma Raven, warrior wizard of the line of Raven."

"A Raven?" Eva said sceptically, "there hasn't been a warrior wizard in your line in 10 generations."

"Well, there is now. Or are you denying the lineage?"

"Come on now, nobody's denying anybody's lineage. I'm Jackson Hawke. This is Amelia Whiteraven and Sarah Sandpiper - because apparently her parents wanted her to be a superhero."

"What is that supposed to mean?" said Sarah, tossing back her long blonde hair.

"Alliteration? Comic books? Oh come on, everyone knows that."

"I think I have better things to do with my time than read comics."

"Like texting your friends and watching reality TV?" snarked Amelia, who was wearing an ankle-length dress with Doc Martins and had cut her brown hair so short it was shaved up the back.

"Better than spending your Saturday nights reading like you did all through highschool."

"Why do I get the impression you two know each other?" said Raven.

"We had the same magical tutor who kept forcing us to all 'work together'," Amelia explained making sarcastic quote marks with her fingers. "And for the record," she added to Sarah, "I was in a band in highschool. I spent my Saturday nights watching live music."

"Did you really? I never knew that."

"You never asked."

"How about we get down to business," Spiers said, "as fascinating as... whatever this is... is. You're here because we have a problem and Tom Clarke has decided to disappear."

"Tom wouldn't do that," Gemma declared, somewhat defensively. "If he's not here it's for a good reason."

"She's right, mate. Tom wouldn't run out on a fight. Whatever he's doing, he'll be there when you need him."

"Well that's not true because we need him now. Varg is demanding he speak to him. And we have some kind of magical disturbance we need to deal with as well."

"Ten quid says when we get to the disturbance he's already there."

"I wouldn't take that bet, Brigadier," Eve counselled him, "I'm afraid when it comes to magic that time and the urgency of ordinary humans needs to be placed in a larger perspective. In my experience, Tom is aware of the bigger picture. And it may be bigger than you realise."

"What does the Prince of Darkness want anyway?" Hawke added with a laconic twist he seemed to put on all his words.

"How about we find out," Sun suggested, "unless we're waiting on more of you."

Hawke shrugged, "Last I heard, the Nightjars could be anywhere. Nathaniel Nightjar was the warrior. If he's alive, he's can't be under 50 by now."

Eve nodded in agreement, "I saw him three years ago in Spain. He always was a wanderer. I'm afraid the magical line of Shearwater is thought to have been lost for a century, along with the Heron's. We could locate their line if we needed to but who knows what we'd find?"

"Then let's get Varg on the line."

* * *

 **There's only so much you can learn about the military from Google. But there's a point where you have to say "does it really matter?" and just go with it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Brigadier Spiers, I have a civilian here for you. Their identification checks out, Sir. They're a recruit for the science division. Mr Sherwood recruited her, Sir. He told her to report to you as per the regs."

New staff to the Factory needed to be briefed by the CO. His idea. Spiers tried to calm himself. The unexpected was what he was trained to deal with but his usual mental control was slipping - like his command, apparently. He would have to request a reassignment if this kept up. So much for making General.

"Very well, Sergeant. Issue her an access card and escort her into the Lab area. I'll meet her there in 20 minutes."

"Yes, Sir."

"What's her name, Sergeant?"

"According to the paperwork, it's Lucy. Lucy Clarke."

* * *

There was something even more menacing about Varg's face when it was framed in the multiple HD screens in the Operations Room. She remembered the first time she'd seen him like that; speaking directly to her, to the whole world. Then Tom had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and the world had changed. That was only a few weeks ago. It felt like years.

Her hand drifted to her pocket and she felt the calm radiating from the jewellery. _Magic_. It was everywhere after all.

"Where is Tom Clarke?" he demanded the minute they connected to his transmission.

"Sorry, Varg, you're talking to us today."

"Jackson Hawke," Varg greeted him with a grin, "It is good to see you still alive. Banished your parents lately?"

"Didn't you hear? I found redemption. Besides, I'm not the only one with family drama around here, am I?"

Varg growled but Sun could swear she saw a glint in his eyes of something else. Had Jackson hit a nerve?

"What's the matter, Varg?" said Hawke, "He's hardly the only wizard in the world. The way you've been carrying on, anyone would think you'd become attached."

"Tom Clarke is an enemy of the Nekross. Nothing more."

We're all enemies of the Nekross,. But I don't see you hacking satellite communications to talk to me. Then again, you Nekross are all about family aren't you? And Tommy boy always did have a very _special_ relationship with the Royal House of Nekron. Or so I heard."

"How dare you!?"

"Oh, I dare."

"So do I actually," added Gemma, moving toward Jackson so Varg could see her. "So unless you want to discuss that in further detail, I suggest you negotiate with us. At least until Tom gets back."

"It's good to see you, daughter of the Line of Raven. Our alliance was productive, wasn't it? You can come back and work for the Nekross anytime."

"Is that all you've got, Varg? Tom forgave me for that. He didn't have to, but he did. And he may have ordered us to stay out of this but as of now we're disobeying. You wanted us out of the shadows, Varg? You got your wish and now you have to deal with us. So tell us what you want. Or go back to doing whatever you do in that lonely, empty ship when you're not threatening us."

"Insolent halflings! You'll regret this."

He ended the transmission with a thump of his gloved hand and the room was left in silence.

"Was that really wise?" Theresa asked them.

"Trust me," Gemma said, "Varg respects strength and loyalty. He may be angry now but in a minute when he calms down he's going to come to the conclusion that we're worth dealing with."

"The technician classes are deferential," Hawke added, "the nobility isn't. Lexi could handle subtlety but Varg is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. And twice as blunt."

Sun looked at Eva for guidance who just shrugged, "Don't ask me. I managed to stay out of their way. I was too busy dealing with magical threats."

Theresa turned back to the two teens, "What did you mean about Tom's special relationship with the royal family?"

Hawke shrugged, "It's just something Varg used to complain about."

"Yeah," agreed Raven, "he was always on Lexi about her and Tom being friends or something. We thought it might be a good button to push."

"And were they?" Sun asked them thoughtfully, thinking of all the things about the last few weeks that hadn't made sense.

Gemma shrugged, "I don't know. Lexi was different though."

"Let me guess, she was the smart one," noted Theresa tiredly. _Was that the only intel she was going to get on her_?

"Definitely but it was more than that."

"In what way?"

"I don't know how to explain it," Gemma said. "The Nekross are hunters. They used to hunt animals, now they hunt magic. But it's like, I don't know. Tom once told me that for them the hunt is more important than the kill. That's why they can be so cruel. The time I was on the Nekross ship, I just got the impression that, I don't know.." she paused again and Theresa wondered if that was all she was going to get out of the girl. Teenagers!

"Varg was enjoying the war but Lexi wanted to win it," Eva finished for her instead. "That's what Ursula Crowe said to me when they moved the moon two years ago. I asked her why the Nekross had spent so much time chasing down individual wizards only to make such a bold move all of a sudden. She said that Varg enjoyed the hunt but that Lexi wanted to _win_ the war, wanted to stop her people starving. That's how you could tell which member of the Royal Family you were dealing with. Lexi could see the bigger picture. And I know Tom believed she didn't enjoy the suffering as much as she pretended to."

"They seemed equally cruel when I was there," added Gemma, "but Lexi was willing to consider new tactics. Varg thought it was anti-Nekross or something."

"You collaborated with the Nekross," said Benson, seizing on the subtext of this conversation that Sun was trying to ignore.

"Yes I did. I'm ashamed of it but I did. I was 15 and I was trying to save my mother's life. But Tom forgave me and that's all that matters."

Sun shot a look at Hawke, "News to me. But if Tom forgave her that's good enough."

"War gets grey," Eve said calmly, "and I think any of us would be tempted to push the boundaries if the life of a loved one is at stake. As warrior wizards we're very good at sacrificing ourselves. But sacrificing others is against the Way. And when it's a loved one, well, who's to blame any of us if we go too far in trying to protect them."

* * *

"Tom? We're going to have to get back soon."

He sat forward in the rough chair and contemplated the fire cracking comfortingly in front of them.

"I know that, Benny. That alarm going off in the Factory is not a good thing. And I'm going to have to deal with it. Not just because it's my responsibility. Because it's my fault."

"So tell me, Tom. Please. I've been your best friend for three years. You think I don't know something's going on."

"Do you want a tea, Benny? The chamber has all kinds. I even stocked peppermint in here because I know it's your favourite.

"Ok, Tom," he sighed, "Let's have some tea."

His friend walked over to a cupboard and opened it carefully, revealing a variety of earthenware jars, neat and labelled with their scientific names. _I guess I did rub off on him a little bit_.

"I don't know why I thought I could keep this from you, Benny."

He put a kettle on the first and threw some leaves into the pot with some water.

"Maybe because you've been keeping something secret from me for a long time. And I've let you because I know it's to do with Lexi. I didn't think it was any of my business. But they're back, Tom. And the Line of Twilight is tearing. So she's in danger. We're all in danger. And I need to know."

The silence extended while they waited for the water to boil and then Tom poured the boiling liquid into two clay mugs. The silence extended so long that Benny wondered if his friend was ever going to speak, ever going to tell him what was going on.

Benny kept his eyes on him, his mug of peppermint tea untouched in front of him.

"I lied, Benny," Tom said finally, still staring at the fire. "I lied to everybody."

"About what?"

Tom took a sip of his tea. It was too hot. He resisted the urge to use a spell to heal the burnt tongue. Waste of magic. Even here.

A window appeared in the rough-hewn wooden walls beside them and they could see out onto a carpark awash with autumn leaves under a wan sunlight that barely made it through the grey. It was the world they'd left.

Benny had often wondered if wizards were weaker in winter. He'd just realised it was a question he'd never asked.

Tom stared out the window until Benny asked again.

"Tom? What did you lie about?"

His friend turned back and took a deep, fortifying breath before answering.

"About Lexi," he said finally. "I knew where she was. I always knew where she was. Of course I did. It was my spell and I... I could feel them. I knew exactly where they were all along."

He looked at Benny for a moment then and Benny resisted the urge to interrupt. There was a sheen in Tom's eyes that he hadn't seen since he'd come back from the Neverside.

"At first, I lied because I didn't want Varg to find them. I thought it was better if I pretended I didn't know where to look. But after I knew he was gone, I went to find them. And then I didn't say anything because..."

He trailed off, looking out the window to the damp world, the tea forgotten in his hand.

"What, Tom?"

"Because I couldn't stay away," he finished, still fixed on the world outside the grimy pain of glass. "I went to see them. I told myself I was worried about them. But that wasn't true. Not entirely. And then I couldn't stay away."

"Tom, they're your family. We would have understood."

He looked back at him again and this time he was crying. Benny reached across and took his hand.

"No, Benny. I was 16. I had school and football and mates who spent the weekends hanging out with DVDs and pizza. Then there was this completely different life. And they didn't fit. I thought... I thought if I kept it a secret then I could have both."

"We could have found a way."

"Benny the optimist. There's a reason kids don't have families, Benny. What, I was going to show up to footy practice after school with my 38-year-old girlfriend and 7-year-old son. How does that work? Sometimes I'd go over there straight from school in my uniform and the neighbours would give me this _look_. I can't even...

"Lexi could see how hard it was for me. It was hard for her too. So she told me I had to choose one life. And she wasn't going to let my choice be them. Not in this world. Not at my age."

Benny had no idea what to say. He'd never known what to say. Not when it came to Tom and Lexi. The only Lexi he'd known was a cruel, vicious predator. Even after the Gaunt kidnapping, he'd struggled to understand why Tom's attitude towards her seemed to have shifted. Tom seemed to see something else when he looked at her, something that nobody else in the family could see. And then those twenty years in the Neverside? He didn't think that was something he'd ever understand.

In the end, he opted for simplicity.

"I'm so sorry, Tom."

He sipped his tea then, waiting for his friend to collect himself. He had a strange flash of memory: Tom visiting his family for the first time, his mother embarrassing him about his love of 'infusions'. That was so long ago.

And then his natural curiosity kicked in.

"Wait. Tom. If you knew where they were and you could sense them magically, why did you ask me to find them? I spent two months scanning CCTV footage. Are you saying that was pointless."

"It wasn't pointless, Benny. That's the worst part. The spell unravelled."

"Unravelled?"

"I think it was a perpetual spell tethered to the Salute. Once the magic faded..."

"The spell did too? Does that happen?"

Tom nodded and finished off his now-cold tea.

"Apparently. I didn't even know I'd done it. I could feel them and I never asked myself why. I just, I found it comforting. Like they were with me even when they weren't. And then suddenly they were gone."

"But that means," Benny continued, "that means that Lexi..."

"She has her form filter. But it gives off an energy signature. Nekross don't usually use form filters and it would never occur to Varg that she would need one. But if he or the Taskforce decide to search for that kind of Nekross tech for some reason..."

"They'll find her in a heartbeat."

"And now Spiers knows the technology exists and Varg knows I didn't tell them about it. And no matter how much grief I give him, he is smart enough to ask why.

"The Nekross think she's a traitor, Benny. The Unenchanted will think she's a spy. Don't you see? I _have_ to find a way to cast this spell again and to tether it to something powerful. And not just for her. My son is Neverwas. _Again._ Because of me, Lexi had to lose him _again_. Because I failed her, Benny. I gave him back to her only to take him away again. I can't even imagine what she's going through. She won't speak to me and I don't blame her."

He was crying in earnest now, the tears driving down his face and outside the window it was raining on a carpark. Benny pulled his chair over and pulled his friend into his arms. In the Dayside, it was dark and ugly. There was thunder in the distance and the rain drove down on that distant world and Tom was sobbing in his arms.

"You've lost him too, Tom. This isn't just all about her. How long have you been dealing with this by yourself?"

"Three months," Tom managed between ragged sobs. He was trying to reign it in now. That never worked, Benny knew.

Tom sat up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, took a few breaths and tried to compose himself, "The spell unravelled three months ago."

"Why didn't you tell me? Your Gran? Moon? Somebody?"

"I don't know. I never felt like they really understood. And I didn't want you all to know what a failure I was. I've made such a mess of things, Benny."

Benny shifted his glasses and sighed, "You're the reason the Line of Twilight is tearing, aren't you?"

"I need a source of magic. One I can use without calling on the stones or going through a Neverway. I need a source of magic that _I_ control. And that magic is in the Neverside. I just need to find the right..."

"Dimensional frequency?"

"Such a geek. But, yes. I've been out at Burnt Hill trying to draw on the power of my bloodline to get through the Line of Twilight. The stones exist in both dimensions, I'm sure of it. Each circle is an entrance to the Neverside. I just have to find a way to access it."

"But you made this chamber. You have your own chamber. You turned missiles into roses, Tom. You must have found what you needed."

"A little. Not enough."

"But, Tom, if you tear a hole that large in the Line of Twilight..."

"Then I'll close it again. Like I said, the magic of the Twilight is Crowe magic. I'll seal it up and I'll never access the magic again. I promise. But right now, I need it."

"Tom, after you took the Salute you said you were terrified of what you were able to do. Terrified of having that much power. You would barely cast anything larger than a cleaning spell for weeks you were so scared. Scared of yourself. And what you're talking about now?"

"Is bigger. I know. But what choice do I have? Losing our son was hard enough the first time. And now Lexi has to go through it again. And it's my fault, Benny. _It's my fault_. I was impulsive and reckless and worse than that, I was selfish. I just didn't want her to die. I did this to her and it's my fault. I have to fix it. And if that means blasting a hole through to the Neverside then so be it. Each time I get a little more precise and come away with a little more magic. But I'm like a dentist trying to do a root canal with a mallet."

"Ow."

"Exactly."

"And you didn't think that I could help?"

"Of course I did. I just hoped I could fix it without anybody noticing. I wasn't counting on Varg deciding to have some sort of Nekross breakdown in front of the unenchanted."

Benny gave a pensive smile at that.

"Maybe he wants to find her because he loves her."

"Of course he loves her, Benny. But he'd still put her to death in a heartbeat. He's terrified somebody will find out a member of the Royal Family chose to become a human."

"Well, if he finds her now he wouldn't have that problem, would he?"

"That's also what I'm worried about."

"You can't be serious. Lexi would never..."

"Why not? There's nothing for her here anymore. And she has responsibilities. She always felt she'd abandoned her people when they most needed her. Why wouldn't she go back now? She can't save Benny Junior but at least she could save her people."

"You know what, Tom? I think you're underestimating everybody. Me. Lexi. Varg. Your Gran and your Dad. The unenchanted. I know you've saved the world a few times but I'm not sure how I feel about this Messiah complex you seem to have developed."

"Messiah complex?"

"We're all supposed to learn to work _together_. Isn't that what you used to say? You _and_ Lexi? We find a way to end this war the way we want it to end. No dead wizards. No starving Nekross. How does going off half-cocked and smashing the Line of Twilight achieve any of that? When did you decide you were doing this alone?"

Tom bridled for a moment and then relaxed again and shook his head wryly.

"I need the magic, Benny."

"Fine, you need the magic. But you also need a plan. A real one. And don't you think that Lexi should have some say in that."

"I told you, she doesn't want to see me, Benny."

"Well, I think you're wrong about that, Tom."

"And why do you say that, Benny?"

"Because I called her a few days ago and put her in the system as a laboratory assistant. She'll be in the Factory this afternoon."

"You did what? Why?'

"Because this war effects her too. Of course, I didn't know about the whole form filter thing then and I certainly didn't know about Benny. But I did it and it's done.

"Now, how about you and I go and deal with this magical disturbance and then get back to the Factory and solve this. All of it. Like we always do. _Together_."

Outside the window, Benny saw the carpark give away to the Neverside forest, apple tree in bloom, spring sunshine casting golden light over everything. Like it had been before. Then the window disappeared and they were back in that comforting cabin; the spring lift giving way to firelight.

This place was the past. And Benny was suddenly worried how much time his friend had been spending here. Benny was suddenly very worried indeed.

* * *

Spiers walked into the laboratory and saw the new assistant standing awkwardly near the electron microscope. She was unexpectedly tall, taller than him by several inches and dressed in a floral-print skirt with sandals.

She turned around as he entered and smiled; a kind of efficient smile as though fulfilling a social nicety rather than expressing any kind of particular emotion.

"Hello," she said to him brightly as she walked across and held out her hand.

"I'm Lucy."


	10. Chapter 10

**And here it is. Thanks for your reviews and your support. Sorry for the delay: life intervened, as it does. I was going to wind it up in this chapter but I think there's one more to go. Maybe two.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

"Tom, something's gone wrong. Tom, I need your help."

It was raining outside and her voice on the line was discordant. Wrong. He knew it the minute she started speaking.

He'd answered the unknown number reflexively, distractedly. He was at work. He wasn't supposed to be answering his phone but he could never shake the feeling he was a call away from catastrophe.

"Lexi?" was all he'd said, his brain finally registering who was speaking.

"Tom." There was a catch in her voice and he realised what was wrong. She sounded Nekross. Upset. But also Nekross.

"Lexi?" he said again.

"Tom, he's gone. Our son is gone. Just like before. He's just gone. It's all gone, Tom."

Plates clattered. The rain drove down in a thrumming beat. And for a moment he wondered if he'd heard her properly. She couldn't have just said what she'd said. He waved off a customer and headed to the back room so he could hear better.

By the time he got there, the full import of what she'd told him had hit him like lightning from the storm outside.

"But, how?" was all he managed. Inside his stomach had fallen like a stone and he'd remembered the feeling. Unravelling.

"I don't know. We were having dinner and doing his homework and then... Tom, please."

Humans could cry but Nekross couldn't. It just wasn't a part of their physiology. And that's what was wrong, he realised with a thud. She'd gotten used to crying. And now she couldn't anymore.

"Lexi, are you...?" He couldn't finish the thought, couldn't say it out loud but she understood anyway.

"I have my form filter. I don't know why. I was wearing it on the ship before I... I guess, when everything..." a pause filled the line and he waited for her to gather herself, "I guess it went back to how it was before."

"But how did this happen?"

"How could I know?"

Anger. That was the Nekross in her. Not that he needed more confirmation; on some level he'd known the second he'd heard her voice.

"You're the wizard. You tell me."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I just mean. Did anything happen?"

"No. Everything was normal. Everything was... perfectly normal."

"When did this happen?"

"Last night."

He remembered again. The unravelling feeling. The sense of loss. He should have asked before. How he knew where she was, where _they_ were. What that connection was, other than the obvious. He should have asked. And now she was gone. And so was he.

"Where are you?"

"Don't you know?"

"No. The connection, it's gone too. It happened last night but I didn't realise. I need to know where you are. You have to tell me."

"It doesn't matter, Tom. Find our son. That's all that matters."

And she'd hung up. She was gone.

He'd taken off his apron and walked out of the shop without saying anything to anybody. He was lucky his boss was a wizard, he got away with things other employees didn't. She would assume her on-staff warrior wizard needed to do something more important than slinging cappuccinos. And she would be right.

He didn't remember getting home. He was in the chamber before anyone could notice he was there. The word had rung a bell. That feeling. Unravelling .He'd heard it before. There were so many books in the chamber. He had no idea where to even start looking.

"And what you will be looking for, young master?"

He should have known Moon would catch him in the Wisdom of Crowe. The Chamber had looked empty when he'd snuck in and he'd hoped the guardian was sleeping like the Hobbledehoy. He briefly considered lying but then decided knowledge was best gained via the straightest road.

Mostly because that was a quote by Caractacus Crowe he'd just read.

"Moon, what's an unravelling?"

Moon gave him a suspicious look, "And why would you be wanting to know about the Unravelling?"

"So the word does mean something. I knew it. It seemed familiar but I couldn't work out from where."

"It's a word used by the old ones. Before the Line of Twilight. Wizards could draw their magic from the Neverside. And they could be casting the Spells of Perpetuity."

"A spell of perpetuity? You mean like a perpetual spell? Why would anyone need to do that? I mean, when a spell is cast it's cast. Right?"

"Not always. Just be looking at the Line of Twilight. It was cast by the nine but is held in place by their Magical Line. In perpetuity."

"What? I never knew that. But what about the Shroud?"

"Is held in perpetuity by Randal Moon. Is why Randal Moon was being in the spell."

"How do I not know this?"

"Spells that be going into perpetuity are dangerous. Like the stones, they can drain a wizard's magic. Especially now those wizards be limited by the dayside. And what if a wizard be passing? Then the spell be unravelling. Unless the spell be fixed."

"Fixed to what?"

"An object. Or a magical line."

"And you're saying the Line of Twilight is fixed to... me? To Gran? To every Crowe?"

"And every Hawke. And Whiteraven. And Sandpiper. It was tethered to nine magical lines. Three by three. Cubing. Powerful magic. Into perpetuity."

"But that means... what if a magical line gets wiped out? What if all nine lines get wiped out? If the Nekross destroyed all wizardkind..."

"If the tethers break, the Line could tear. If they were destroyed, the Line would be failing. Falling. It would be the Unravelling."

Tom leant against the solid stone weight of the table; his mind racing with the implications.

"I knew what the Nekross was doing was bad. But this...

"Moon, can a perpetual spell be unravelled if a wizard is still alive?"

"But of course. If a wizard holds the spell themself then he or she is weaker. If there is a day they use all their spells, then the perpetual spell will unravel. But no wizard alive today is powerful enough to cast one. It requires contact with a source of magic."

"Like the Neverside?"

"Yes."

"Or like the Salute?"

"The Salute? Oh, young Master, what will you have been doing?"

'Nothing, Moon. Really. It was just a hypothetical."

"Well, I'll be thanking you to not be scaring Randal Moon. Spells of perpetuity can kill wizards if they unravel badly. And you do not have access to the Sky Ship magic any longer."

 _It looks like the magic from the extractor was too much for your cellular storage, Tom._

 _And what does that mean in English, Benny?_

 _It's like a battery that's overcharged. It'll give you a burst of power but it'll go flat quickly._

 _So my days of being Bad Wolf Tom are numbered?_

 _Did you just make a Doctor Who reference?_

 _Let's just keep it between us._

 _I mean, it's for the best isn't it, Tom? You didn't like it. All that magic. That power._

 _No. But I swear, Benny, since I took it I am more powerful than I was before. I can feel it. It scares me sometimes._

 _Well, I don't think it'll last. At some point the battery will go flat and when it does your cells should recharge normally. I mean, you're still like one of the most powerful wizards in the world, right? Even without the extra magic? That's what a warrior wizard is, isn't it?_

How could he not have known he'd cast a perpetual spell?

Even if he didn't know about them before today. Hadn't he felt it inside him? Hadn't he felt _them_ inside him? How could he not have realised?

What had he done?

* * *

The hallway was empty when they came back through. Maybe the magical crisis had taken all her troops or maybe Sun had decided there was no point guarding the temporary entrance of an unfixed threshold.

Either way, they'd come through expecting to be arrested but had instead stepped into a clinically-white, echoing hallway. Not even the CCTV cameras were pointing in their direction.

Benny took out his phone and started texting the minute his feet hit the sharp reality of the Dayside.

"Benny! What are you doing?"

"Texting Lexi."

"Well, that won't work if she's here. Half this place is a Faraday cage."

"But the labs aren't."

"And all mobile activity is monitored"

"I gave her an encrypted burner. It's shielded from the security scanners."

"What if they frisked her? Isn't that standard procedure for new employees?"

"Tom! Lexi and I know what we're doing. I'm a genius and she's a military strategist. Stop being such a..."

"A what?"

"A control freak. Alright. Lexi's here. She's in the labs. She's there with one of the senior techs. Guess they're not leaving her alone on her first day."

"So, what do we do?"

"Walk right in? I'm in charge of the techs, Tom. I'm the boss. And you're Tom Clarke."

"Right. Walk right in."

"The senior tech will call Sun or Benson but we'll have some time before they get there."

Tom stopped suddenly, his head slightly downcast.

"Tom, what's wrong?"

"I'm actually really nervous, Benny. I know it's stupid. Varg and the tears and everything's going to hell. But I haven't seen her since... since we ended it."

Benny just clapped his hand across his friend's shoulders and waited for him.

"I'm sorry. Let's go."

* * *

The screen crackled back to life and Varg's scowling face appeared across the operations room.

"Varg!" Jackson cried in mock amazement, "you're back!"

"It appears I have no choice but to deal with you and your other... inconsequential friends."

"Bit harsh isn't it, Varg? After all, we're all still here. And you're looking a little lonely up there."

To Sun's surprise, Varg bared his teeth in an expression that could possibly be a grin.

"Your stalling tactics are amusing, young Hawke. And I could play your game for longer. But we have no time. And if these are the only wizards I have then so be it. There is..."

"..a tear in the Line of Twilight." It was Tom, appearing from the labs to the back of the Operations Room. Benny was trailing behind him, his head buried in a tablet.

"A big one," Tom finished. "And we need your help to close it. Or you need ours. Either way, we have to work together and that involves a truce."

Varg nodded, "An alliance until this threat is neutralised."

"Wait, you were calling us for _help_?" Jackson interjected, "Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"Because he couldn't," Tom explained, "he could only negotiate with somebody his people respected as an equal. Or wait for us to make the overture. Which we just have. Isn't that right, Varg?"

"A Nekross does not ask for _help_ , especially from livestock."

"And yet here we are. You of all people know the kind of risk posed by a tear this large. But I also need to know some lower-ranked idiot isn't going to think this is an all-you-can-eat buffet or a route to the throne."

"My crew is obedient."

"So none of them have been asking questions?"

"Of course. The magical sensors are showing a source of magic the likes of which many of them have never seen. But you and I know how... unpredictable... such magic can be. It cannot be harvested. Or controlled. I will come alone and I will bring the equipment you need. Others may be... overwhelmed."

"The alliance stands until all Nekross are back on the Zarantalus and all humans have left the area. None of this dissolving it when it suits you."

"It appears you don't trust us, Tom Clarke."

"Swear it. Publicly. Now."

"I swear," he managed through now-gritted teeth.

"We'll meet you there in one hour."

Varg gave that grin again, "It is interesting isn't it, wizard, that 'there' appears to be the magical location you call 'Burnt Hill'? That seems quite a coincidence."

"It's a deep source of magic. If you know how to use it."

"Indeed. One hour, then."

Tom turned to Sun and gave a rueful, apologetic smile.

"We're going to need transport to Burnt Hill."

"Um," Gemma said tentatively, raising her hand like child in school, "six warrior wizards here. I think we can handle it."

"And if a neverside witch or a dragon comes out of that tear? You'll need all your spells. Besides, you're staying here."

"What?" Jackson said, "no."

"No way, Tom," Gemma agreed, "no way I'm standing by while you..."

"I'm not having an argument about this. If Varg decides to double cross us, I'm not serving you up to him."

He put up his hand to stop Amelia from adding her voice to the protest, "The Line of Twilight is held into perpetuity by the nine families. Two are already lost. If you five end up in the extractor, the Line falls."

"Yes, but that's not the entire reason, is it?" Eva said calmly.

Tom looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

"It's ok, Tom. Go and fix things. And then, you and I will need to talk."

"I'm hoping that will be unnecessary after today."

"Then you're wrong. But there is a mess to be cleaned up. So go and do it. We'll be here if things go badly."

Tom nodded again and then left.

* * *

The journey to Burnt Hill was silent, even as Sun, Tom, Benson and their three military escorts were jostled around in the back of their army jeep. Benny had decided to stay behind to work on something in the lab. She mentally kicked herself as she realised she didn't know what.

Sun knew there were things she should be saying, asking, demanding but found herself once again silent.

She lifted her eyes at one point and found Benson giving her a look she could only describe as meaningful. It was strange to find herself so completely on the same page with somebody she had recently dismissed as a jar head. Or whatever the British version of a jarhead was.

They'd gotten the military transport she'd requested but in her opinion Spiers was losing it. He'd demanded to know what a 'tear' was and when they'd tried to explain the Line of Twilight and the Neverside and the magical threats that could come through, he'd simply thrown his hands in his air and stormed out.

Benson had proved more knowledgeable than her on the Nine Warrior Lines and their relationship to the integrity of the Line and that had frankly annoyed her. Enough that it was only now, driving to the site of the latest tear with Benson waggling his eyebrows suggestively at her from the other side of the jeep, that she realised what he was trying to tell her.

 _If the line was linked to the warrior lineages, then did that mean a warrior wizard was responsible for it tearing?_

But why? Why would they do it? She considered they were working for the Nekross then rejected it. Varg had been eager to close it. Eager enough to halt the war, forge an alliance and deal with wizards who weren't Clarke. That alone made her realise how bad a tear like this must be.

"So, Tom, you went to see our new lab tech?" It was Benson, leaning forward conversationally as though making casual small talk. His body language said otherwise and Sun grimaced. Tom was better at reading people than that. "Do you know her?"

"Benny needed her advice on something."

"Seems a bit strange, doesn't it? Disappearing like that and then coming back to talk to a lab tech that only started work today?"

"You'll have to ask Benny about that. He hired her. I guess he needed her skills."

"And what are those skills?"

Tom paused, his eyes flicking briefly to Sun before he answered, "Germlines."

Sun started, "She's a geneticist? A human one? Why would we need a human geneticist? Our knowledge of Nekross physiology is minimal so far. We've never even gotten a viable sample to study."

Tom placed his hands out as if to say, _Don't ask me, I'm just a wizard_.

"We're here."

The driver pulled up and before she could press him further, he'd jumped out of the jeep and was moving toward the stone circle.

"Haven't been here since I was a kid," said one of the soldiers.

"Me either," said Benson. "They used to make us do school excursions out here. It looks exactly the same."

"Like Stonehenge. But not as impressive."

"Except I now know they're magical. That wasn't in my workbook."

"Mine either. So what does this magical tear thing even look like?"

"I don't know. I don't even know if it 'looks' like anything." Benson turned to face the largest stone and his jaw actively dropped. "Or maybe it looks like that."

The funny thing was, Sun thought, it really did look like a tear. It looked exactly like somebody with giant, unearthly hands had grabbed the air and just torn it open. Magic in all its streaming rainbow beauty framed the rent and torn edges and between - a full five or six metres across - there was a darkly shimmering hole. Like a deep pond in dim moonlight. Or like nothing. Like nothing at all.

She absently took her pendant out of her pocket and gripped it in her hand, feeling the pull of that force through the hole in the sky. She moved around it and saw it was flat. From the side, she could see the wisps of stray magic seemingly coming from nowhere. And from the back, that tear again.

"I thought you'd be able to see the Neverside through it," said Benson quietly. Disappointed.

"Maybe that is the Neverside," she answered as she came back round the 'front' again.

"Maybe. If it is, I think I've changed my mind about wanting to see it."

They were whispering. She didn't even really know why.

"Do you hear that?" Benson asked her.

She shook her head. She couldn't hear anything.

"Not even an insect. Not a bird. Not an ant on the ground. The hillside is deserted. We're the only ones here."

"Terrifying, isn't it?" a voice said from her left.

She turned to agree and was disconcerted to find Varg standing beside her; an expression of obvious fear and awe on his face.

Obvious. She could read his emotions. Humans struggled to do that even cross-culturally. But in this moment she knew exactly what he was feeling. He was scared. What on Earth could scare somebody like him? She didn't think she wanted to know.

Wow, he was tall. That was her second thought. It didn't come across on the screen. But he must have been at least seven feet tall. Although the blue armour no doubt added height.

"If you've finished making your appraisal, maybe we could get to business," he said wryly. That was unnerving as well.

Tom came up beside him and they shared an impenetrable look. Varg breathed deeply. He seemed to be smelling the anomaly. She took a deep breath but couldn't smell anything. _Magic. He was smelling magic. It would make sense. Magic is food. To them.  
_

She took a second deep breath and thought she could smell a brief scent of eucalyptus. But maybe that was just her imagination.

"Did you bring it?" Tom asked him.

"Of course. The Resonator will isolate the dimensional frequency of the tear. You can then tailor your magic to closing it. It will certainly be more... efficient... than the method by which it was opened."

"We don't know how it was opened," Sun found herself saying, "They say these tears are just becoming more common."

"Is that so? Interesting."

"How long will the Resonator take to work?" Tom asked him.

"About ten minutes. Let's hope things stay this calm in that time. You were right not to bring the others"

"Why is that?" It was Benson. Initially careful around Varg, he'd drifted closer as the alien had begun to set up his machine; driven by technical curiosity.

"Neverside beings can sense magic. They would be drawn to the tear. Even more than they already are. We should hurry."

The Resonator looked like a larger version of the Nekross weapon on a stand. Varg simply set it up and aimed a light pulse at the blackness in the heart of the tear.

"The Resonator is scanning the frequencies. It will soon find the right one. And then Tom Clarke's magic will save the day yet again."

Tom shot him a flat look and they stayed staring at the tear for what seemed like years but was probably only a minute or two.

"Do you think..."

She never found out how Benson was planning to finish that sentence because _something_ , something dark and quick and deeply disquieting shot out of the tear and came at her. Fast and pitch black and a face that looked like _The Scream_ ; that elongated silent face contorted in horror.

It came from the darkness and it was darkness and its single clawlike hand reached out toward her face and she tried to cry out and the sound was stopped in her throat by an overwhelming terror. The creature, the thing, the dark screeching thing pried the pendant from her hand, tearing it from her grasp even as she flailed at its chain and then it ran back again. Back into the darkness.

And she was left alone. Completely alone. It was gone. _She_ was gone. Taken from her a second time.

All of her; that last tiny remnant, that spark. Gone.

Her eyes were unfocused and as the world came back into shape she saw Tom; a look of stunned horror on his face as he realised what the creature had taken. She saw his face whiten and harden like porcelain, like stone, and before she could fathom what he was doing he turned and ran into the tear after the creature. The darkness swallowed him and he was gone as well.

There was nothing but the hillside and the silence and the darkness of the tear.

It was all gone.

Everything was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Hello, Lexi."

He'd tried for brash, confident. Tom Clarke: warrior wizard.

But it had come out softly, tentatively., He wondered if she'd even heard him.

The senior tech, an older Pakistani woman named Mannat, was in the other corner of the lab and he told himself he didn't want her to hear him.

Lexi was standing at a bench, her back to him, reading through a base manual. First day busy work.

She flicked a look to Mannat, who Benny was now distracting in his usual exuberantly scientific way. Then she turned around and he saw her for the first time in almost a year. He started for a moment. He knew she'd be using the form filter but it was still a shock to see her transformed to her original self. She looked just as she had when he'd first met Lucy. She could be his age; perhaps a bit older.

He was surprised how bereft he felt. When he'd last seen her, she'd been a facsimile of her forty years. Her face older, the lines around her eyes deeper, the bags under them darker. He felt as thought someone had wiped their years away. _This must have been how she felt every time she saw me._

Other than her sudden age reset, he couldn't tell she was behind the form filter. Only that small unquantifiable tone in her voice, that flickering alien expression on her face sometimes gave her away. And yet she was still her. Completely.

He opened his mouth, what he wanted to say building in his mind and then sliding away as he went to speak it. Tom Clarke. Lost for words.

"Benny asked me to come. I hope that's alright," she said as he stood there, floundering in silence.

"Of course," he managed, " of course. I'm... I'm really glad you're here."

She smiled slightly, "Tom Clarke working for the military. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Necessary evil. We're stalling as much as possible. But they're getting impatient. And with these tears... Look, Lexi..."

"Lucy. While I'm here. We don't want people getting suspicious."

"Lucy," he corrected himself. "they know about form filters. They haven't had time to put in any security measures for them but when they do..."

"Hopefully I'll be gone before that becomes necessary."

He shot her a look not un-tinged with hope, "Have you...?"

He paused, not really knowing how to finish that sentence under the circumstances. When they'd first discussed this, she'd been human. Now..."

"I never stopped looking," she answered him anyway. "And I've done it. It's done. The funny thing is, having access to my original genetic code was what I needed. And when my brother chose to expose... everything... I redoubled my efforts. It's done."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Spectacular. And do you still think...?"

"Yes, I think consent is as important as ever. You're a wizard, I know you agree. It is as necessary as it is difficult to garner. But I doubt your new friends are going to agree."

"No, they can't know. Not yet. Not until I'm ready."

"What are you planning, Tom?"

"Something big. Something insane. But first I need to know it's possible."

"Magic and science?"

He smiled at that and then after a pause so did she.

"Magic and science," he agreed.

She looked like she wanted to ask him about Benny Junior but then she shook her head slightly and glanced awkwardly again toward Mannat. The tech was still distracted and so he broached it anyway.

"I swear, Lucy, this was my mistake. I did this and I promise you, I swear, I will fix it. I'll fix everything."

"No, Tom. I was upset. I said things I shouldn't have. But I never blamed you. I wanted this. I asked for it. And I of all people know how unpredictable this kind of magic can be. I should never have told you to fix this without my help. _We_ will fix it. Together."

He moved reflexively to take her hand and then drew back. Wrong place. Wrong time. Like so much of their history.

"It's really good to see you, Le... Lucy. I know the risk but I'm just so glad you're here."

"As am I. It's nice to have a purpose again."

"Yes, it is."

* * *

She was gone.

That one small piece of her, torn from her impotent hands.

The creature had come from darkness and back to darkness and she was gone.

Everything was gone.

Beside her, Varg growled. It was a low and as guttural as a wolf but also unfamiliar, alien. It jolted her back to reality.

Tom had negotiated the truce. Tome had been the contact Varg had demanded. Tom had gone. They were exposed. Their tactical position untenable.

If Varg decided to...

"Human idiot," Varg growled.

"Why would he do that?" Benson asked nobody in particular.

"This is how his grandfather was lost," said Varg to her confusion, "and after what happened last time..."

 _Last time?_

"Wizards!"

And then to her even greater confusion, the giant creature threw himself through the rift as well.

"What the hell?" yelled Benson, "Why did he do that? What do we do? What do we do?"

He took a step toward the tear himself and then thankfully hesitated.

"No!" she yelled at him. "No, we stay here. We do not pursue an enemy into unknown terrain, Sargeant. And that's about as unknown as it gets."

"It'll be dark soon, Major," one of the soldiers told her, a small note of panic in his voice.

His weapon was raised, she noticed and his finger was a little too unsteady on the trigger

"Stand down, soldier," she ordered him, "weapon down."

He nodded, swallowed his panic and to her relief, relaxed.

The sun _was_ setting; rays of late afternoon light reflecting off the stones. The sky was clear for this time of year but the temperature was dropping.

Theresa didn't know what to do either but they could never see that. She wouldn't let them. Not with things spiralling so far out of control. Even in the middle of her divorce with a piece of jewellery instead of her beautiful little girl she hadn't felt this alone or this uncertain.

The memory of the creature coming at her was still a fresh and terrifying memory. In comparison, Varg had seemed almost human.

"Soldier," she said, her mind furiously spinning, "call Spiers for re-enforcements. We need a cordon around the tear. No one can come near. No one can see it. If people knew the magical danger they were in and that Clarke is gone, we'll have panic."

She turned to Benson, assuming her orders were being carried out.

"Sargeant, can you get the dimensional... whatever... from this tech?"

He shook his head, "Benny could."

"Get him here. And tell him to bring Eva Starling with him. Don't tell him why. Gossip spreads like wildfire and Clarke's his best friend."

"Yes, ma'am. Major. Sorry."

"What do we do now, Major?" one of the other soldiers asked her. She should probably learn their names.

"We wait," she answered him grimly, "and hope they come back through soon. Because as soon as I have a warrior wizard and the frequency, I'm closing this rift before something else escapes. And then I'm hoping the crew of the Zarantulas is understanding. Otherwise, we're all dead anyway."

 _And I'll have left an 18-year-old boy to die alone so far from his family they will never find him_. _Please forgive me._

* * *

Her favourite memory was hunting with her son. Tom would feed them some breakfast he'd concocted from fruit and fish and a kind of potato they found growing near their hut. It was surprisingly filling and surprisingly tasty and she would never admit to either. She instead complained bitterly of hunger and dissatisfaction and the superiority of magic and he pretended he didn't know she was lying. Then he'd kiss them goodbye and the two of them would stalk across the forest floor with their makeshift bows and arrows; though their game was rarely larger than a chicken.

From a childhood on Nekron, she saw a forest of potential threats and necessary protein. He saw a world of wonders; one he grew up with, the only one he knew. He threw as many spells as he did arrows. He was so completely their son. And she was so happy.

At first she'd wake from the memory to the soft bed and the night light gleaming down the hallway and feel panic and confusion. And then she'd smile at the feel of the warm lump beside her and drift off.

Later, she'd wake up alone and feel that loss so much more acutely And then her son would crawl into bed with her and the hole would almost be filled.

Now she'd wake in a panic and scrabble for her form filter, convinced someone was in the room. That someone would see. The bedclothes felt strange on her coarse skin and the pleasure of her morning shower was lost. The house was empty. Dark and cold.

She'd close her eyes and remember those moments that brought her here. This tiny unit in Stratford, East London. This tiny life. After all, what are we but our memories? Seventeen years a Nekross. Twenty-two a human. Three months as one desperately pretending to be the other. Managing to be neither.

She could only be what she remembered, after all. Whether she was a human or a Nekross or both. Our memories were all we were. That's why she'd known her people would never accept her decisions, the life she'd wanted. Without her memories, they could never understand. Even if they'd tried. And being Nekross, they never would.

* * *

"What's happening?"

Benny and Eva had arrived and Major Sun contained her relief that they were there. The cordon had been set up a kilometre out and the curve of the access road meant no passersby would stumble upon the anomaly on the windy hillside.

The stones in their protective circle around the tear seemed in the darkness almost menacing. They'd set up floodlights but they seemed to accentuate the inky hole in the sky and the long shadows of the surrounding monuments. They were magic, she was sure Varg had said. She wondered if Benny had told Benson about them or if he too was as ignorant of them as she was.

"I'm sorry, Benny," she told him, deciding that blunt honesty was her best response. "I need you and Eva to help me close the tear. Tom and Varg - they ran in."

"They did what? Why?"

Sun paused, trying to answer the question without telling them about her pendant. It was so personal, so intensely private.

"No time to explain. Can you do it?"

"No," Benny protested, "we have to get them back."

"Yes," Eva said calmly, "we can do it. It's what Tom would want. You know that, Benny. A tear this large cannot be allowed to stay open and Tom would rather be lost in the Neverside than allow something terrible to get out. Especially under the circumstances."

They swapped an inscrutable look and Benny looked momentarily defeated.

"I can call Gran. Or the other warriors. They can go in after them and..."

"No, Benny. It's not worth the risk. This isn't a Neverway. We close it now or we risk the Dayside."

"There has to be another option. He can't go through this again."

"Again?" It was Benson, who had once again drifted over. He seemed to make a habit of that. It was quite stealthy of him really.

"Tom was trapped in the Neverside once before," Benny said. "We only just got him out."

 _Last time_.

"At least let me get..." Benny trailed off and looked helplessly at both of them. "Look, there's a lab tech at the base and, and it's a long story, but I think.. I just think that she should be..."

"Major!" It was nameless soldier number 1. She really should remedy that soon.

"Major, something's coming through."

He raised his gun and she waved him down. "Eva, take point. Whatever comes through that, I don't think guns are going to work."

The wizard stepped forward and raised her arms ready to cast a spell if necessary. And then relaxed as Tom and Varg stepped through, the Nekross supporting the young wizard. Her heart sank as she saw he was clutching his stomach where a red stain was blooming beneath his white tshirt. In his left hand, Varg held her pendant.

She only just held back a sob as she saw it. Varg sat Tom down on the ground and then gestured to Benny and Eva. She vaguely registered he was telling them to close the rift and then he was in front of her; all seven feet of reptilian menace. And her pendant in his armoured fingers.

He held it out and placed it gently in her palm. As she curled her fingers around it, he wrapped his hand around hers and she found herself staring into his strangely-human eyes.

"It has magic. It is the magic of the remembering; great joy and great sorrow. The magic of love. And of loss. It drew the creature to it. But those we love are always with us, whether we have a piece of them or not. She was never lost to you. She never will be. Rail against the thing that took her from you. But never think that you're alone."

She nodded, the tears building despite her best efforts.

"Lexi?" she asked.

"She was taken from me. And like you, I would give anything to have things back the way they were."

"Varg." Tom was still on the ground near the open tear, his shirt being cut off by a medic who had begun to probe the livid wound on this abdomen. _It looked like claws. By the ancestors, what was that thing?_

"No, Tom Clarke. This changes nothing. We close the tear and the war continues as before."

"How can you say that? After everything that's happened, how can you keep saying that? When will you just... stop. Please, Varg. Just stop. We have a solution. I just need you to talk to me."

Varg hissed, pulled his hand from hers and turned to face the young wizard.

"What did you think? That we would be friends. That we would come to an understanding and shake hands and sing a song of peace and solidarity? After what you did to my sister?"

"What I did? What I did? You were there! You knew the consequences if I didn't act.

"You know what I think? I think you'd rather she was dead as long as she was a dead Nekross. When will you listen to me? _It was what she wanted!_ It was what she asked me to do, Varg, it's who she is. It's who she always was. I thought you remembered. I thought the stones gave you your memories back as well. Lexi said they did. Why can't you just be happy that she's happy?"

"Happy? If she was happy, we wouldn't be here would we, _Tom Clarke_?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I wonder what your new unenchanted friends will do when they learn the truth _?_ If there's one thing I know after all these years it is the taste of your magic. And it is your magic that I taste. I can smell it here. I can feel it in every part of my being.

"It is _your_ magic that has torn these holes in the Line of Twilight.

"At first I didn't know why but then I understood. And all I need to do is run a simple scan. Now that I know what I am looking for. There is no more need for delay. I came here for war. And your precious unenchanted are about to get one. There is only one way to stop that, wizard. I suggest you do it soon, before your armies do it for you. The Nekross shall feast."

"Varg," he protested, "Varg, don't do this. It's madness. Whatever problems we have, we can resolve them. We... we're family."

"True. But you of all people know how the Nekross treat family. You told me you didn't know where she was. I now know that was a lie. So you go and you tell my beloved sister: it is time for her to come home. There's nothing left for her here anyway."

He grabbed the resonator, barked into this communicator and disappeared in a flash of ionised particles.

Behind him, Eva enchanted the tear closed. And Tom Clarke sat bleeding in the centre of a ring of stones. Alone


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The story went like this.

Once upon a time, a man lived in a valley by himself. The sun shone, the rain came down, the walls of the valley kept out predators. He grew crops for food and was happy. One day, while he was in the fields, a flock of birds came and ate all his food. It was gone. He had nothing. He was going to starve.

He knew that in the next valley there was another man with another crop. This man's food would save his life.

* * *

"Where am I?"

"Hospital. Under guard."

Tom rolled his hips to try to get comfortable on the narrow, adjustable bed. The room was bright; the sun pouring through third-floor window.

"What happened?"

"You were attacked by something on the Neverside. We didn't know what. Eva called your friend Joc - who is apparently a wizard - and she called her Aunt, Ophelia Owl. Because that's a name for a wizard flying below the radar. Apparently, the Owls know everything."

His chest felt like somebody was sitting on it. His arm was chaffing and he realised he was handcuffed to the bed.

"My chest feels strange."

"You were slashed by something Ophelia called an Azhi Dahaka. Once we knew what it was, your friend Raven was able to heal you. What is it with the bird names anyway?"

"No idea."

"Standard wizard response."

He tried to bury the pain for a moment to look at her, standing under the harsh hospital light, her tiny body still, her eyes tense. Her uniform was as impeccable as always but there were bags under her eyes. She was wearing makeup, a lot of it, presumably to cover how tired she was.

"You're angry."

"Angry? I'm furious."

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment against the unforgiving glare of the lights and the antiseptic smell of bleach. He opened them again and tried to shrug. His chest pulled and he realised he must have stitches through his abdomen.

"What do you want me to say?"

"What you should have said from the beginning. Everything."

He laughed and then regretted it as his stomach screamed in protest.

"I guess this is the exposition part of the story."

"I'm not laughing, Tom." She crossed her arms. She was still standing. Still ramrod straight. Still covering her feelings with anger and makeup.

"Sit down," he said exhaustedly. "You're exhausted."

"I'm fine."

Her voice was flat, her arms crossed across her body. He suddenly realised how well he'd come to know her in such a short amount of time.

"You were worried," he said.

"About you? Only that you'd die before I could find out what the hell is going on."

It was clear she wasn't going to bend and he sighed again.

"Want to know the full story before handing us over to Varg?"

"It's being discussed. What did you expect?"

A wave of exhaustion flowed over his damaged body. He gave another wry laugh.

"I thought I could fix everything," he admitted.

"By yourself?" She laughed, a hollow sound with little humour. "The King of 'we're all in this together'."

"You sound like Benny."

"Tom! I'm not playing around."

His chest hurt. His everything hurt. Maybe they were right and he had messed things up going it alone. Maybe he was right that Sun was the one person who would understand.

"What do you want to know?"

"No, you don't get to play that game with me, Mr 'But you never asked'. Everything. Now. From the beginning. And you can start with Lexi."

His chest hurt again. It had little to do with the serpent attack.

"I don't want to talk about Lexi."

"Well, I do. And you owe me. The truth. Varg thinks Lexi is alive. Is that true?"

He paused, weighing his options or perhaps just grappling with a topic too painful to easily discuss.

"Yes, Lexi's alive."

"How?"

"How else? Magic. She's been living on Earth for the last two years. With…"

He felt a punch in his gut, once that had nothing to do with his injuries.

"… a form filter. She has her form filter."

"Why? All our intel said that she and her brother had some minor sibling differences but were united in their need to extract magic. If anything, Lexi is seen as more determined to win the war."

"Maybe. But even before the Neverside," he trailed off, his tired eyes staring at the blank, white walls. "She was always the smart one. She tried _so hard_ to be who they wanted her to be. She could be so cruel. But look into her eyes and you could see it. She knew."

Sun twitched as though she wanted to interject again but restrained herself. She mentally noted all the questions he'd begged for later. This clearly wasn't an easy story for him to tell.

"She worked it out even before I did. I was only 16 when it began. It was hard: the responsibility, the sacrifices. But even with all that, it was still... exciting. I wanted to fight. I wanted to win. But she knew."

His eyes met hers then. They were flat in a way she'd never seen them.

"She knew."

"Knew what?"

"She knew that..." he floundered for a moment for the words. She waited quietly.

"Fighting over a resource that would run out," he said finally. "It was so pointless. It didn't matter who won: the Nekross were doomed. Even with their most innovative solutions and their most conservative rationing, the Nekross were a dead race walking. An evolutionary dead end. She tried to tell them but they wouldn't listen. Varg was too busy enjoying the war. And her father was a selfish glutton who cared only for himself.

"They told her she was anti-Nekross. Condemned her for weakness. She was supposed to enjoy the hunt and the feast and pretend the future did not exist. She couldn't do that. She tried but she just couldn't. Not when she knew."

"Knew what?" Sun asked, feeling the need to wrest some order from his monologue.

"The war was pointless. All war is pointless. All their planning and scheming and cruelty. It was all pointless. It always is."

* * *

Once upon a time, a man lived in a valley by himself. The sun shone, the rain came down, the walls of the valley kept out predators. He grew crops for food and was happy. He knew that in the next valley there was another man with another crop. One day, he saw a flock of birds descend and eat all his neighbour's food. He knew that his neighbour now had nothing. He knew that his crop could save this man's life.

* * *

"All wars are pointless. Look at us, at humans. We're no different. Lexi and I came to agree. It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement and the adrenaline and the _purpose_. But in the end, the truth is clear."

"You mean all _resource_ wars," Sun found herself arguing, "This is a resource war. A fight over a non-renewable resource. All _resource wars_ are pointless."

"All wars are resource wars, Therese. You know that. You've studied military history and you're smart enough to realise it. As smart as Lexi was. It's what I like about you. Every war is a resource war. And they are all equally pointless. Whoever wins loses in the end."

"I can't agree with that, Tom. I'm sorry. There is such a thing as self-defence."

"And if the people attacking you feel they have no choice? If it's a matter of survival?"

"Then they're still attacking you. You have to fight back. I don't know what you're suggesting. If someone brings a war to you, you respond in kind."

He sighed yet again. He was getting tired and not just because of his wound.

"Come on, Sun. This is not an alien concept. No pun intended. We have aid budgets for a reason."

"Ok. Well in that case, why haven't wizards volunteered for extraction? The Nekross get their magic. No war."

"We considered it. Like an… organ donation programme. Wizards who are old or infirm or have a fatal illness. Many people would happily die to save the life of another. Especially wizards."

"So?"

"Have you seen the organ donation wait list?"

Sun nodded, "The Nekross population has grown too large. It's why they've extracted so much magic in the first place."

"Lexi and I believed the solution was one we had to decide on together. A way to save the Nekross by working together. Both sides. No dead wizards. No dead Nekross. No war."

"Will you solve global hunger and climate change while you're at it?"

"I didn't say it would be easy. And for the record, we have solutions for both those problems. We're just too lazy and selfish to use them. And you know that too."

"Maybe but I think lazy and selfish is reductive and simplistic."

"And yet," Tom said simply.

She wondered how they'd wandered so far from their original question. Lexi. The Neverside. All the things she didn't know.

"Tom?"

"I know. I'm getting there."

* * *

Once upon a time, in a tale of two valleys, one man had a crop and another did not. One faced starvation. The other knew that if he gave the other man food that he would have less. Both men had a choice.

 _Maybe his neighbour wouldn't give him the food he needed. His life was at stake. Could he really take the chance his neighbour wouldn't share? Maybe if he asked he would lose his chance to take. He could take no chances on trust._

Once upon a time, in a tale of two valleys, one man had a crop and another did not. One faced starvation. The other knew that if he gave the other man food that he would have less. Both men had a choice.

 _Maybe his neighbour would never rebuild his crop. Maybe the birds would come again and he'd been feeding his neighbour forever. After all, the birds hadn't attacked his crop. Maybe it was his neighbour's laziness and incompetence that had lost him his food. Should that be rewarded? Maybe he wouldn't have enough left over to get him through winter. And could he really take the chance his neighbour wouldn't try to take the crop by force? His life was at stake. He could take no chances on trust._

* * *

The silence stretched between them. He was tired and sore and she didn't know how to get him back on track. The hospital had been bustling and loud when he'd woken up but now the sun had dipped below the horizon and things were gloomy. Things were quiet. Not even a nurses buzzer disrupted the strange peace.

"How long do I have?" he asked her suddenly. His voice sounded loud in the private room.

"I don't know," she admitted. "They're more torn than you'd think."

"I thought they'd jump at the chance. Varg implied if he got me and Lexi then he'd go. I would have thought two people for 7 billion would seem like a bargain."

"Well, they have no idea where Lexi is for a start. And then there's public opinion. We've put a lot of effort into our marketing. And the giant space lizards have quietened the usual xenophobes. The only anti-wizard voices at the moment are kooks. We can round up all the Muslims we want and nobody bats an eyelid. But nobody's whipping up fear about wizards yet. And if the military starts storming comfortable middle class neighbourhoods to drag out people who have been living there for 50 years then people will notice."

"So I have time?"

"What you have are guards. Not that I imagine they can do much if you decide to leave. I suspect your wound is what's keeping you here. Not me and not the guns."

"Maybe. I do feel strange. Weak. What about the Neverside? Magical threats? If we lose wizards…"

"They know you're responsible for the tears, Tom. As far as they're concerned, the biggest magical threat at the moment is you. I'm not sure I disagree. Some of the wizards are using the word Warlock. It's being whispered but soon it may be shouted. And then handing you over may really be the best thing for everybody."

"But, the Nine?"

"Save the remaining Lines, save the Twilight. There are enough families left, even without the Line of Crowe."

"You've got it all figured out."

"Not entirely. Where's Lexi?"

"Safe. And she'll stay that way."

"Varg said…"

Tom shook his head.

"I warned her. She'll suppress the energy signature of the form filter. It's her invention after all. He can't find her. And neither can you. And trust me, this isn't information you can force out of me."

"But maybe Varg can. If we hand you over, he can find out where his sister is. If there's a Nekross hiding on this planet, the military would rather they were gone. Varg has what he came for. The Nekross leave. Everyone wins."

"Then do it. There is nothing you or Varg could do to me that would make me talk."

"You'd do all this to protect her. Why?"

He looked at her again, his ageless eyes strangely calm.

"Because she's the love of my life."

* * *

Once upon a time, in a tale of two valleys, two men had a choice. They could talk, negotiate, share. They could band together to grow crops for both of them. Together. They could defend that crop against the birds. Together. They could ensure both of them were always fed forever. Together.

Or not.

* * *

A million thoughts raced through Sun's head as she tried to process what he'd said. A 16-year-old boy and a reptilian alien? Horror, disgust, confusion, curiosity (how does that even work? Did they... is that even possible?). She shook her head to clear it of her visceral reaction. This was not the time for her gut. This was the time of logic.

"What happened?" she asked him, eventually. She knew he'd seen the emotions scatter across her face and was momentarily ashamed of them. Was this bigotry or rationality? Humans had bred with Neanderthals and other human species. The Nekross were sentient, intelligent, culturally complex. Maybe the problem was her inherent xenophobia? Or maybe this was really as weird as she imagined it to be. How does that work? Did they... is that even possible?

"Magic," he said simply, choosing to ignore the emotional war clearly going on beneath her usual inscrutable face. "The kind that can rewrite reality. As strong as the Neverside itself. As powerful as the Source. On the ship, she was dying. And it was what she wanted."

"To live?"

"To be human again. And to be with… our son."

"Your… how is that even possible? No, wait," she waved her hand at him. She didn't need an answer to that question, she realised. The answer was magic. The answer to all her questions suddenly was 'magic'. It was so damn unsatisfying. It was no answer at all. Were there any rules the world anymore?

He just nodded, feeling strangely bereft now the truth was out. The way things were, he couldn't see the consequences of her knowing. Not anymore.

"This is the real secret, isn't it? I mean, you and Lexi being together? That… I don't even know what that is. People would be horrified but you're two adults I guess. But a child? An interspecies child? They'd tear him apart."

He nodded sadly, "Yes. If they knew."

"How did this happen? When did this happen?"

"I may look 18, Sun, but I'm not. I'm nearly 40 years old. And so is she. Or at least, that's what we remember. And in the end, that's what matters. Isn't it? We are our memories. No more. No less. The sum of all we remember experiencing. Whether it actually happened or not."

"I don't unders…," she started to say again but then she did. "The Neverside. That's what Varg meant. He said 'last time' when he followed you in. Last time."

"We got lost, the three of us. Time, it moved differently there. In the blink of an eye, everything changed. We weren't enemies anymore. We couldn't be. We were allies, friends."

"Lovers?"

"Eventually. The Neverside made her human and then turned six hours into twenty years. You have to understand, she tried _so hard_ to be Nekross. Before and after. But it's not her nature. Not really. In a strange way, the magic showed us all exactly who we were. And then we left and it was all gone. We just wanted it back."

"But you had it. On the ship, you said that you…"

"It unravelled. Spells can do that. It needed to be tethered to a magical object. I didn't know. Lexi. And, our son… he…

"I'm more powerful now than any wizard that's lived on the Dayside and it's still not enough. And this war… I thought Varg could be reasoned with. But inside he's still that unthinking raging beast roaring at shadows. He's as determined now to forget the past and ignore the future as he was then. I meant what I said. I think he'd be happier if she was dead as long as she was a dead Nekross."

"And your son?"

"Is nothing but a memory. And maybe that's all he was. A magical figment. A beautiful wish made flesh. Maybe he never really existed at all. But I _remember him._ We both do. When I held him in my arms as a baby, when I felt his curls under my chin in the morning, that was real. I remember it and it was real. It was more real than anything."

Sun moved then, for the first time. Her arms unfolded and she strode across the room to the window. It was dark outside and all she could was a reflection of her own pain in the glass. She remembered the mornings she'd woken up and had forgotten. The pain that lanced through her when she remembered. But as bad as that pain was, it was nothing to the realisation that her daughter was now nothing but a memory. When she forgot, it was as though that brilliant little girl had never existed. At least when she remembered, her baby was real.

What was that passage in _The Sellout_ that had so moved her.

 _That's the problem with history. We like to think it's a book—that we can turn the page and move the fuck on. But history isn't the paper it's printed on. It's memory, and memory is time, emotions, and song. History is the things that stay with you._

"I'm sorry, Tom," she said, "I am. I truly am. And I understand. You know I do. Better than anybody. But I have a planet to think of."

"I know."

"If we hand over you and Lexi then…"

"Then the Nekross will be back once their people start dying. You know that. This war ends only one way. Everybody dies. No one wins. They never do."

Sun shook her head and started pacing across the bleached linoleum of the small room.

"No, there has to be a way to win. If we destroy the Zarantulus…"

"They'll retaliate and start killing everyone, including the Unenchanted. You can't beat the Nekross with force."

"Then we give them magic."

"There's not enough magic in the Universe. That's my entire point."

"The Neverside…."

"We have no idea what the consequences would be for this reality of mining the Neverside. And that's assuming anybody could. Once the Line of Twilight is down, magic floods this Universe. And just because you drink water doesn't mean you can't drown."

Sun nodded, somewhat resigned, "There's cheap, reliable electricity and then there's Chernobyl and Fukushima."

"Exactly."

She nodded to her own reflection and then spun on her sensible heels, the picture of her poised self again.

"Fine, then, what's your plan?" she said in a professional cadence.

"My plan?"

"You told Varg you had a plan. You weren't talking about restoring Lexi and your son. You were talking about the war. What is it?"

He was briefly surprised by her sudden conversion but then he relaxed finally and smiled, "It's crazy."

"Of course it is. It's your plan, Mr Flower Petals. Let's hope it's 'just crazy enough to work' crazy. You seem to have some success in that department."

Tom started for a moment.

"Wait, are you serious? What about armed guards and handing me over to the Nekross?"

"No reason we can't do both. We don't have long but I didn't make Major by not exploring different options. Let's call this Plan A: Everybody Lives. The other one is Plan B: Only you die for now."

"Fantastic. You do understand I'm not trying to win this war. If we win, the Nekross die. All of them. I'm trying… Lexi and I are trying to save everybody. They're her people. She wants them to live."

"Hence the name of Plan A. But still... let's keep that bit to ourselves, shall we?"

"I can do that."

"What do you need?"

"I need Lucy."

Ok. Who the hell is Lucy?"

* * *

Once upon a time in a tale of two valleys, two men chose war. One won. One lost. The next spring the birds came in their annual migration to feed on what they could find. The remaining crop gets eaten. Does it really matter which of them survived to live another year?


	13. Chapter 13

**_Author's note:_** _I apologise to everyone for how long it's taken me to write this story. When I started it, I intended it to be done in about a week but life intervened and now - two sick parents, one leave of absence, one major surgery and an awesome trip to South America later - here it is! I'd love to say this was always meant to be thirteen chapters as a nod to the Thirteenth Floor - ending where it really began - but that would be a lie. It doesn't mean that when I typed 'Chapter 13' for the first time I didn't feel a frisson of perfection._

 _Not that this is perfection - far from it. Life has been a bit too all-consuming this year for me to put the extra touches on it that I would have liked. But overall I have to say I'm satisfied._

 _I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it._

 _Please review. It's what makes writing 40,000 words worth it in the end._

 _NOTE: Due to a bug with fan fiction at the moment, I've had to break this up into two chapters on the site. I haven't gone for a natural break, intending both to be read as if they were one._

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

The day they left was an ordinary day.

Except of course it wasn't.

To an ordinary person going about their ordinary day, it was as ordinary as the day they first came.

There was an alien on the television. And then there were flowers. And then they were gone. And work started at 8:30 and the gym opened from 5:00.

The news listed the name of the single fallen hero: Tom Clarke, warrior wizard. The invaders were gone and so was he. Not one shot fired. A Cold War. A non-event? Weeks of breathless BBC speculation and the odd xenophobic rant from Fox News. And then it was all over as though it had never happened.

Perhaps their neighbours were wizards who had come out of the magical closet. And maybe their Saturday barbeques continued unscathed. Wizards, they'd learned, were just like them. They were all brothers and sisters of Earth in an unfriendly universe. Even once the reptiles had gone back to wherever they had come from.

The world was different but completely unchanged.

Except of course it wasn't.

* * *

It wasn't summer but the promise of it was in the air. The days were longer; so long now that little darkness was left to hide anything.

Tom started his day in the time-honoured tradition of all teenagers - he called his friends.

"Tom, did you know Joc was a wizard?"

"Um… yes."

"Could have told me, mate."

"No, no I couldn't."

He'd paused at that; his unique Quinn brain processing.

"Guess not. Well, I guess it's okay then."

"So, you're still friends?"

"Friends? Who said we were ever friends? She's alright, though, isn't she? I mean, Joc. She's kind of cool."

"Go for it, mate," Tom said, cutting through what he imagined would be an otherwise improbably-long conversation about the definitions of 'alright' and 'cool' before finally landing on the truth.

"Life's too short."

"Right. Will do. Um… how?"

"I don't know, Quinn. Invite her to a match?"

His friend paused again before his annoyed response, "She already comes to the matches. She's a player."

Tom rolled his eyes, glad the phone kept him his expressions.

"Not _your_ match, you plank. Why would watching you play football count as a date? To a real match. Together. Decent seats."

"Oh, right. Good idea. Thanks."

"No worries. Hey, mate?"  
'Yeah?"

"I love you," Tom said, "Just in case you didn't know."

"It's that bad, hey?"

"Maybe."

"I love you too."

"Aren't you supposed to give me grief about being soft?"

"Not today. Just don't die, okay?"

"Promise."

"And call Katie too, will you? I know the world is ending but she broke up with Hart. Apparently, the looks wore off after a while and she's decided she needs a guy who can construct a sentence."

"Still upset though?"

"Guess so. Either way, give her a call. She thinks you're still mad at her. Over how she reacted when she found out. If things really are this bad…"

"I will."

* * *

It wasn't summer but the promise of it was in the air. The days were longer; so long now that little darkness was left to hide anything.

Tom started his day in the time-honoured tradition of all revolutionaries - he escaped custody.

Sun didn't raise the alarm because she wasn't there. She and Tom had become too close for anybody to have been fooled. Not that he needed her to do anything. He was healed.

The sun had risen and his cells had responded with a familiar fire; far greater and more exhilarating than it used to be.

 _I've done some tests, Tom._

Benny sounded excited. Tom wondered why he wasn't worried about Skyping on an open channel in the current situation but somehow Tom had been given a computer and now Benny was speaking as freely as if they were in the Neverside. Maybe it was encrypted. Maybe it was Nekross tech. Maybe Benny had decided he just didn't care.

 _They took some samples when you were in the hospital. I… misplaced them._

 _Thanks, mate._

 _But I did some tests of my own. It looks like your work with the tears has expanded the magical storage of your cellular matrix._

 _Ok, now you're just making up words._

 _A little. But that's the only way I can verbalise it. It's like… your phone._

 _If you say so._

 _Our cells seem to work like an organic battery; storing up magic from the sun and using it during the day. When you recharge it, you only top it up to the original storage limit of the cells. Like when your phone is fully charged._

 _Ok, that makes sense, Benny. Even to me._

 _I thought that exposure to the kind of magic you've been channeling might… wear out your batteries more quickly. Like…_

 _Like how your phone dies more quickly if you recharge it every night._

 _Exactly! I've been worried if you kept it up you'd need to keep recharging and your batteries might end up dying. And you can hardly replace them._

 _You might have mentioned this before, Benny._

 _Well, if you'd told me what you were doing, Tom…_

Tom winced.

 _Yes, I know. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I screwed up. Can I apologise to everybody properly after I save the universe?_

 _Yes. And thank you._

 _You're welcome. Now, my cell batteries?_

 _Instead of degrading your cellular matrix, exposure to Neverside magic has increased your cellular storage. You weren't just more powerful because you were sourcing magic, you were more powerful because your storage of potential energy is more efficient._

Tom paused, trying to wrap his head around what Benny was saying. Sometimes the holistic way he was brought up warred with Benny's reductionism. Magic was supposed to be… magical. But he had too many friends - Benny, Sun, Lexi - who saw it as a biological process. It had affected how he saw magic more than he had realised.

 _So, when we say we have three spells a day that is an average estimate of the amount of potential energy stored in our cells on any given day._

 _Yes!_

 _But if I can transform and store more potential energy from the sun than…_

 _I estimate you can now safely perform an average of seven spells a day, Tom._

 _Permanently?_

 _I don't know. But on an ongoing basis? For now? Yes._

 _That's more than double the amount of magic other wizards can use._

 _Yes._

 _Is it enough?_

 _For what you want to do? No. You'll still need a tear and you're still risking cellular damage. But for the first part? The first step? With Lexi's machine and its subspace link to the Nekross communication network? You can do that today. The magic is small. The magnification is science._

 _Where's Lexi?_ Tom asked him, quickly.

 _Home. She's due in the lab at ten._

 _Then I'd better check myself out._

 _Will they let you do that, Tom?_

 _With seven spells? I'd like to see them try to stop me._

* * *

It wasn't summer but the promise of it was in the air. The days were longer; so long now that little darkness was left to hide anything.

Tom started his day in the time-honoured tradition of all families - he went home.

The duplex was small and surprisingly sterile.

The first home Lexi had chosen had also been small but earthy. It had been lived in, lived _on_. It had a child to mould itself around. Toys and clothes and games strewn everywhere. A small perfect backyard. A garden. A swing.

This building housed a scientist. A being of space. The hallway was narrow, the front room kept dark. It had a couch, a coffee table and a small television. It was spotless. It was completely unused. It was for show.

Past the staircase was the kitchen. Light brown linoleum, a small kitchen table, dated appliances. Spotless. If he opened the fridge he knew he'd find accurately labelled, perfectly balanced, calorie-controlled meals numbered 1 to 7.

Except he wouldn't. That isn't what she ate anymore. What had she been eating?

If he opened the fridge, he'd find milk, bread, yoghurt. Having no food would be too suspicious.

He found her up the stairs in the second bedroom at the back. Anyone who came up here would wonder why she had a security system on _this_ door but not on the one at the front. But no one would come up here. They'd never be invited.

He knew the code. He could have just knocked but he knew how her mind worked. Their son was more than a biological factor to her. He was a mathematical constant. He existed, whether the atoms and molecules that made up his body were cooperating or not. He was also infinite; the potential existing indefinitely until the potential was made manifest.

He typed in 314159 and entered the room. It was only after he was through the door that he realised she'd chosen the code for him. There were dozens of more obscure mathematical constants for her to choose - many of which progressed to infinity. But everybody knew that one. She'd dumbed it down. For him.

Benny was right, he'd always been welcomed here. It had always been his own guilt that had kept him away.

"I'm such an idiot," he said, not intending to say it out loud.

"Well, I'm not going to disagree."

She was standing by a console with her back to him; but when he entered, she'd turned her head to face him. _So young._ He hadn't gotten used to it yet.

The lab was sparse for one devoted to biochemistry. Nekross computers could do a lot of the modelling for her without her needing to experiment on living tissue. Jethro must have smuggled them to her in exchange for his freedom in what he believed would be her new regime. He wondered briefly if the oily technician was still alive.

"You're so young," he said to her instead.

"Not really. Or maybe, yes. I don't know anymore. Still, the military believed I was old enough to be a lab tech so there's that."

"They just assumed you were one of Benny's kid geniuses. Lexi…"

He moved toward her and slid his arms around her, resting his head on the back of her shoulder.

She didn't stop him or say anything but she also didn't fold back into him like she once would have.

"I'm sorry, it's just been such a long time since I did that."

"It's ok," she reassured him, "It's just that it feels so different. The form filter is just an illusion. I'm still Nekross and it feels different. Sometimes I feel almost schizophrenic."

"Me too. But I guess it's easier. All my memories are of being human."

"Speaking of which…"

He sighed. Straight to business, then. Of course. They were ready. It was time that it was done. "Yes," he said simply. "Can we do it?"

"You'll need a lot of magic. More than I first thought. Even for the first stage."

He turned her around and looked up at her, his hands sliding into hers like they always did. Still so much taller than him. His brain saw a human but his skin felt the suit on her hands and the rough dryness of her scales. _Nekross inside._

 _"_ How do you feel about the plan?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It still feels like a violation."

"Nothing compared to what needs to be done," he said, "and for that we need their consent. You know the Nekross better than I do. Would they give it if we don't do this?"

She sighed, "I don't know if they're going to give it at all. This is a gamble. I mean, Varg remembers everything and he is unchanged."

He shook his head, "No. Varg remembers the opposite. He remembers being on the outside. He remembers being the beast. He remembers that those he loves, leave. He's lost more than we give him credit for."

She put her hand on his soft, unlined human face and got lost for a moment in how strange it felt under her new-old hands.

"You were always so kind. And you're right. I was angry at his betrayal but maybe I betrayed him too. Maybe I shouldn't have hidden."

"Maybe we all made mistakes. Let's just hope this fixes them. And that they're not too angry about what we're planning to do to them."

"And if it goes wrong?"

"Then we have to accept their choice. They are what they are and if they won't change…

She nodded in resignation.

"I'd restore everything first," Tom said to her, "but…"

"But I need to be Nekross for this to work. I know."

"I'm sorry. As it is, I'd love nothing more than to wave my wand and make everything better. But even for me that's not possible. And they'd notice. They're watching us now, they're watching the stones. And once we use magic like that, we won't get a second chance. But if this succeeds, they'll let us do anything we want."

"Well, if it's so dangerous to tip our hand then why are you here?" she asked him with a somewhat sly smile. She knew the answer. She just wanted to make him say it.

"Because I love you. And this may not go well and so I wanted to make sure it was said. I love you."

"I know," she said and laughed at his aggrieved look. "I love you too. And this will work. It's Nekross science after all."

Behind her, an alarm began beeping softly; glowing red in the sterile room.

Tom cast her an inquiring look.

"It's the Zarantulas," she told him calmly. Always so calm these days. "They've entered orbit. It's time."

* * *

Sun was nowhere near the hospital when Tom disappeared. She knew there were whispers and so she made sure her official recommendation to use magic to restrain him was on the record. Her official recommendation forgot to mention just how much more powerful he'd become though.

Whoops.

She'd also let Benny have access to the security network so he could put a false feed into the cameras and magical monitors at the hospital to cover Tom's escape.

Double whoops.

The Factory was busy. It was all hands on deck now they'd found a way out. The decision had been made. The wizards were unhappy but resigned. Tom's father and grandmother had appeared in the staging area to perform a wonderfully-melodramatic demand to save their son. Ursula's performance had seemed particularly over the top to her but the other wizards just rolled their eyes so maybe it was pitched perfectly. She'd quietly slipped a locator ring into Sun's pocket as the Major tried to 'calm her down'.

Little in the universe was a match for someone pretending to be a silly old woman.

They were waiting for Varg and a large contingent of Nekross to arrive and take Tom into custody.

"We should send soldiers into Tom Clarke's room every 30 minutes to ensure he's still there, despite the cameras and sensors," said Benson. _Damn him. Always underestimating him. When will I learn?_

She nodded, "Excellent plan, Sargeant. I'll give the order myself."

She did not.

The party was planned. They just needed the guests to arrive.

"It's time," she said, "Bring Tom Clarke from the hospital and get the warrior wizards to lower the shields. Let's roll out the welcome mat for the magic-eating reptoid aliens, shall we?"

As the soldiers sprang into action, she felt a presence at her side.

"This is wrong."

It was Gemma Raven, simmering with anger behind her even angrier makeup. Behind her, Jefferson Hawke was standing, cool as always but with eyes like agate.

"I know," she said, "but it's the least wrong option at the moment."

"They'll kill him."

"They'll kill everybody."

"But," Gemma argued, "we have the warrior wizards here. Once they teleport in, we'll…"

"What?" Sun countered, "What will you do? Kill them? Use your magic to strike them down?"

"I…" Gemma dropped her head impotently and then gave Sun a helpless look.

"You're no Warlock, Gemma," Sun told her gently. "None of you are. That's a good thing. Now, this is for the best. _Trust me_."

She resisted the urge to accompany this with a meaningful look. All would be clear soon enough.

Hyper aware of the room, she alone noticed the lab tech Tom had mentioned swipe her way in. _Lucy_. She was tall, Sun noticed. Very tall. Slim. Blonde. Young. Almost too young.

Her eyes swung Sun's way and the Major started. She'd seen this before. _Old eyes_.

Sun resisted the urge to acknowledge the women's presence and refocused on the task.

Right on time, lights played in the operations room and the Nekross began arriving.

"I've taken the liberty of keeping the magical shields active," Benson said. "Just in case the wizards try something."

She nodded and kept her eyes fixed on the Nekross soldiers appearing. The shields worked by scattering magic. Something like, for example, a locator ring would allow a wizard to direct their magic under the shield. If a wizard wanted to do something like that, of course.

She took a deep breath and stepped forward to greet Varg as he appeared in a rainbow kaleidoscope of light.

"Major Theresa Sun." The alien greeted her respectfully, almost affectionately. Clearly he felt the two of them had some connection. It was an extremely strange feeling.

She simply nodded.

"I'm relieved we were able to come to some agreement," Varg told her with a certain amount of reptilian relish. "one which benefits both our people. I hope you are ready to hand over the wizard. And the human woman we've demanded as well."

She grinned internally but managed to keep the emotion from her face.

"Your Highness," she said sombrely, "I'm afraid…"

"I'm afraid there has been a change of plan."

Lexi turned her head in surprise and saw it was Lucy, striding toward the Nekross contingent with a gait that grew in confidence as she came across the room. _She walks like a soldier._

Varg's skin reddened and green tinges began to spread across his facial ridges. His mouth dropped, as if he was a human, and his eyes dilated. Nekross shock.

"What's the matter, Varg?" Lucy said, "You look as if you've seen a ghost. Which is odd, since we Nekross don't believe in them."

She turned to Benson, who Sun realised didn't look as shocked as he should have. _Damn Benson_.

"Sargeant," Lucy addressed him, "activate the Superman Protocol."

"I already have," he answered her calmly.

"Excellent. I know my dear brother is partial to a global broadcast. I thought we might see if our people respond to one differently from the people of Earth."

"I… I don't….I," Varg stuttered.

Sun quickly parsed the statement and the tone in which it was delivered and came to rest quickly on the word 'brother'. Holy sh…

"The time for the charade is over, Varg. This broadcast is being beamed to the personal communication equipment of every citizen of Nekron. And I'm afraid there is something they need to know."

She pressed a button on her bracelet and her human shell flickered and dropped, revealing the Nekross inside.

 _Form filter. Oh my God. This meant that…_

"Your Highness!' a guard gasped and it took mere seconds for the soldiers to realise who was standing before them and to drop to their knees.

Lexi's eyes swept the crowd before her and then landed imperiously on the webcam she was obviously using to speak to her people.

"I am Lexi, Princess of Nekron, heir to the throne with my brother, Varg. You may be wondering how I am alive when my brother has been so vocal about his quest to avenge my death at the hands of the wizard, Tom Clarke. As they would say here on Earth, the rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Like our father, my brother has used our need for magic as an excuse to pursue a personal agenda. He desired to turn his lie about my death into a truth."

"Lexi. My sister. No," Varg yelled. He seemed confused and distressed.

"Silence him."

Sun scanned the faces of the aliens before her trying too see how Lexi's words were being received. From their set faces and narrowed eyes, she thought they were angry. But who at? The question was answered when they stepped forward and pushed the Prince to the ground, threatening to shoot him if he spoke. They looked to Lexi and nodded at her to continue.

"My people, how could my brother have done this monstrous thing? What could have led a member of the royal family to behave so without honour. To murder a member of his own family without observing the rituals? Without even informing our people of my supposed crimes. The answer is not an easy thing to hear."

She tapped another button on her bracelet and nodded at Sun to pull out the locator ring.

"My brother was trying to protect his people from my shame. The shame of a Nekross who chose to live among humans. Who chose to leave this war. But I am here to tell you that there is no shame in my decisions. If you had lived through what I have then you too would no longer embrace the violence we were raised to believe made you Nekross. You too would believe we needed to find a third way. But you haven't been through what I have, have you? You haven't lived and loved as I have. Haven't seen your world turned so upside down and inside out that you fail to recognise it anymore. After all, we are nothing but our memories and mine are ones no Nekross should have."

She paused to consider the confused, horrified and outraged faces in front of her as her rapid-fire words sunk in.

Then she grinned.

"We are nothing but our memories," she repeated. "And so we give you ours."

* * *

In some other ear she did not realise she had, Sun thought she heard the buzz of equipment and the sonorous words of magic.

"Magic and science," she heard Lexi say faintly, as though from a distance, "Magic and science…"

Her voice merged into Benny's, "Magic and science!" he said enthusiastically. He was in the chamber. She'd spent so much of her youth wanting to be allowed past that threshold and now she practically lived there: working day and night to stop the Nekross. _They had killed so many. So many deaths, so many wizards stripped of the force that gave them life and made them wizards. So many…_

 _Worlds to visit. To explore. F_ rom the moment she'd looked up at the sky and seen how many stars there were, how many planets, she'd wanted nothing more than to visit every one of them. To discover new worlds. She ran into the forest with her bow alone and felt the surge of power as she let her arrow flow. Hunting was so simple. So focussed. _Maybe one day she could hunt on a world so distant her own Nekron sun would also seem a speck in the sky. Maybe one day she would…_

 _Stand amongst wizard kind as a warrior wizard._ She would defeat the Nekross and live her life the way a wizard should. In the human world during the day and defending the Line in secret. Her life would find a pattern, a routine. The kind that people complained about for its boredom but secretly wanted. _If only the war_ …

 _If only the war would end_. She was a hunter. She had hunted magic but still her people starved. She'd done her research into humankind. Know thine enemy. And she knew they'd faced this same dilemma. It was writ large on their history. The fur seals. The whales. Fossil fuels. Easter Island. Resources stripped until they couldn't recover. Societal collapse. The lesson was there but her people were even more deaf to it than the humans were. She tried to…

…focus on winning the war and not think about the consequences. Wizards didn't kill. But if the Nekross starved because they didn't get magic? Did that count? Was biology their proxy in the same way they'd used Benny during the malware incident? Could she really justify this war of attrition when she knew the consequences? Especially when she saw…

The lazy amusement in her brother's eyes when he spoke her secret shame. I _f only she could stop thinking about…_

 _Wizards would be wiped out, the Line would fall and all would be lost._ Hunted to extinction like so many others. Taking everything with them slowly. She wished the Nekross gone but couldn't wish them dead I _f only she could stop thinking about…_

They held hands for a moment in a hallway, eyes locked. They'd worked together, escaped together, even made each other laugh. _What was this feeling? This connection? She was a wizard, she was an alien, why did she…_

Why did she keep remembering that moment? Standing in that hallway knowing she'd saved them from Varg. Her coarse hands in his, her clear eyes. So intelligent. So purely honest. She could trust her, she was sure of it. She could…

Nobody could know about these feelings.

 _If the Nekross knew…_

 _If the other wizards knew…_

She would prove she was not compromised. When they looked at her work, they would see ruthlessness…

When they looked at her decisions, they would see she put wizardkind first…

Sun shook her head and tried to sort out the parade of memories. She wondered if this was what schizophrenia felt like. _Voices in her head, seeing things that weren't there._

She was Lexi, daughter of the House of… no, she was Tom Clarke, warrior wizard of the line of… no. No! she shouted into her mind. She was Major Therese Sun, mother of…

 _Sun, relax._ It was her voice. No, Tom's voice. Her voice. No, she was Theresa and this was Tom.

 _Sun, relax_. _I'm sorry I didn't warn you but I wanted you in the spell and I couldn't risk anyone finding out the plan. Just relax and let it happen. I'm sorry but I wanted you to understand. I owe you that much. So please, relax._

She took a deep breath and tried to slow her heart rate. She'd had panic attacks after her daughter's death and recognised the signs. _Find the source of the panic. Recognise it isn't real. Take deep breaths. Think about your heart slowing down. Think about…_

Her mother dying in front of her in a blaze of light and magic and… no, being harvested. She was harvested. Could they be more cruel? How could Lexi be so…

Cruel. It was cruel. But she laughed like a maniac and pretended she didn't remember her own mother's death at the hands of her father. Executed for treason. What had she actually done? She couldn't even remember. It's possible the King hadn't bothered to trump up a real charge. He was the King and a charge of treason was his to make. She'd laughed at her mother's corpse as was proper then had hidden in her room to hide her grief. How could she have compounded that emotion for someone as sensitive as the wizard? How could she have…

…Nearly killed them. Dear God, they'd nearly killed them all. And for a moment she'd wanted them to die.

What kind of wizard…

What kind of Nekross…

At first she'd wanted to go home. She was human. She was wizard. She was in a world of pure magic. She was away from her family. From her mission. There was nowhere to go. The memories merged and formed into one. The feelings welled up again, so much stronger than before. A year went by. Two. They were safe. They were at peace. The beast prowled the perimeter but she kept them safe. She was a farmer. She was a hunter. She was a husband. She was a wife. She was a mother. She was a father. The war couldn't touch her here. Hunger couldn't touch her here. Magic was a tool. Crude nutrition, the kind that had kept her ancestors alive, nourished her again. She loved eating. She loved the apples from the tree she'd planted. It grew as their relationship grew. It fruited and flowered. It was them.

And their son! Oh, their son! She held him in her arms after his birth. Felt his breath on her cheek as he slept between them at night. Squeezed chubby arms and even chubbier legs. Kissed his head. Laughed at his antics. Crowed with delight at his achievements. He was a hunter. He was a wizard. He was the best parts of them. He would never know hunger or war. He would play in the forest and farm the land and grow into adulthood in peace.

He was… Oh God! He was gone. He was gone! Her son was gone. My son! My son!

My daughter! My baby girl. Fading away in a hospital bed, tubes everywhere, her eyes flat. Withering from the inside as she…

"No!" she yelled, her hand moving instinctively to the locket. As her hand rested on the precious metal, she felt a surge of power and wrenched herself from the spell with a gasp.

"No!"


	14. Chapter 14

Her cry echoed around the room and she looked around, trying to assess the situation. Trying to understand what had happened.

"Major?" Benson, still beside her put his hand on her shoulder. "Major, are you alright?"

The Nekross were all staring straight ahead, caught up in what must be a memory spell. As her eyes skimmed the room she realised the humans were looking confused.

"Sargeant?" she managed.

"We don't know what's happening," Benson admitted to her, "all of a sudden, the Nekross went silent and, I don't know, kind of spaced like they aren't here. They aren't even blinking. It's kind of freaky."

"How long?"

"Only a couple of seconds. I asked you what we should do and then I realised you were affected too."

She nodded, trying to sort out where she ended and her new memories began.

"It's some sort of memory spell," she explained. "I can feel them. They're inside me."

"Who?"

"Tom and Lexi. Their whole lives. Their childhoods. The war. Their…"

She thought of a wood-wrought double bed in a cottage and blushed. She hadn't wanted to admit she'd been wondering what it would be like. And now she knew. It felt like a violation.

"Everything," she concluded, not trusting herself to go there.

"I don't understand. When Lucy - Lexi I guess - and I set up the trans-dimensional transmitter, she said she wanted to send the Nekross a message. She didn't say anything about a spell."

"The spell is the message. And somehow they've managed to cast it to every Nekross through the transmitter system."

"But Nekross are immune to magic," Benson argued. "They just absorb it."

"But they're not immune to technology," Sun said. "They must have cast the memory spell on the local tech. Lexi must have adapted it to transmit memory through the network you set up."

"I can't even fathom how that would be possible," Benson said.

"Nekross tech." Sun shrugged. Then she gave a short, involuntary bark of laughter. "Lexi was always the smart one."

She thought of the memories the aliens were still receiving. So intimate. She wondered why Tom has chosen not to share it with the humans. Surely they would benefit from walking a mile in their enemy's shoes? So to speak. Especially if they were ever going to accept a human-Nekross relationship and a son born of magic.

"I need to get back in," she said.

"What? Why?"

"I'm the only one on Earth they chose to give these memories to. I need to get back in."

"Ok. How on Earth are you going to do that?"

She smiled and placed her hand across her necklace. She could feel the thin current of power there. Then she closed her eyes and cast out her thoughts.

 _Tom. Tom. Bring me back in._

 _As you wish_.

* * *

When she came back to the room again, she was blinking furiously to moisten her eyes. She must have been as fixedly unseeing as the Nekross. As she refocused, she saw Tom and Lexi standing in the middle of the room holding hands. Nekross and wizard. The aliens before them in the staging area, the humans behind them.

The other wizards looked as dazed as any of the aliens. He'd given them this gift as well. She guessed he also wanted them to understand what he was going to do next. Whatever that was.

"My people." It was Lexi, still in Nekross form. Her large scaled hand sat gently in Tom's small pink one.

"My people, now you know. And now the choice is yours. A real choice. Not just the choice between life and death today but a choice that will give you and your children life for generations to come. We survived as Nekross before we were manipulated by our scientists. We were still Nekross before we ate magic.

"And that choice has propelled us into lifetimes of war and starvation and death. The end of our people. You know it's true. And now you know there is an alternative. Now you remember what I remember: a different life. I lived as a human because I had no choice. But in doing so I learned that it was possible. And I learned I could still be Lexi. I could still be Nekross inside. We can be Nekross without magic."

"Sister!" Varg yelled, "Sister, no!"

"Brother, after all you have seen? All you have done? All you remember? How can you not see the logic in this?"

"It's a violation. A negation of all that makes us Nekross."

"Were our ancient heroes not Nekross? Were all those who built our civilisation from the desert not Nekross?"

"Enough rhetoric," It was the Nekross who held the gun to Varg's head. She looked at the Princess with cool eyes. "You may be broadcasting to our people but you are not in a palace debate. You will speak plainly."

"My Lady Kolnick. I remember you from my childhood. You father was as old-fashioned as mine."

"And as gluttonous. And as cruel," the warrior said. "I remember. You clearly have a plan. Let us judge it on its merits. And then we will judge you. As you brother said, what you just did was a violation. None of us consented to it. History may forgive you. But if you want us to, I suggest you explain yourself quickly."

Lexi nodded and almost imperceptibly squeezed Tom's hand for strength. Such a small thing but a big thing nonetheless.

"My people, I have devoted the last two years of my life to a conundrum. The conundrum of our biology. Engineered by scientists with a genius known only on Nekron but with little foresight. As scientists, they couldn't see the eventual consequence of their changes. But here we are on the brink of extinction. Our food sources are depleted. Our great empire is on the verge of collapse. My father kept this reality from you but even the lowest ranked of you must have seen it by now. We stand with the last remnants of magic in this universe. We can extract every wizard on this planet, drain the Neverside and destroy ten dimensions and it will never be enough.

"This is the way of things. Civilisations rise and then they fall. We can be nothing but an unfortunate footnote in the history of this vast universe. Or we make the same choice Nekross scientists did all those years ago.

"I have unlocked the secret of our genetic code; the core of what made us Nekross. I have isolated the string of genes modified to allow us to absorb magical energy. And I can reverse it.

"I have created a retrovirus to transmit the changes from Nekross to Nekross until all are restored to their former glory. But unlike the spell I used to help you to understand my decision, such a radical change will not be without your consent. I will not release the virus until every Nekross has been asked and every Nekross agrees. Each of you has a voice in this and I call for it to be heard. The choice for knowledge wasn't yours because knowledge is not a choice. But this is. Choose wisely. The future is at stake."

* * *

"I feel like someone threw an invisible grenade into the room and everyone could see it but me," Benson said, his hands gripping his coffee mug so hard his fingers were white. Sun was pretending she couldn't smell the rum in it. He was on duty but this was hardly a normal day.

"What was it like?" he asked her.

"It was like… it _is_ like having a vivid dream and then waking up and realising you're living the life you were before. During it, it felt so real. Now it feels like an immersive film I watched. I remember everything but I'm not confused. I know who I am. I also know everything they've done and felt. I know them better than anyone else on Earth. Maybe even myself."

"That must be a bit of a burden. Especially for you."

Sun started then looked at his eyes for the first time. They were blue. What a strange thought.

She shook her head, suddenly flustered.

"What do you think the Nekross will do?"

Benson shook his head, "They want consent from everybody. I can't imagine any society managing that. But I also can't imagine changing somebody at a genetic level without it. And you can't control a retrovirus after it's released. It's everybody or nobody."

Sun nodded. Her new memories of Nekron were those of a princess. She gave orders. People obeyed. She had little insight into how an ordinary citizen would respond to any of this.

"You know what I can't understand," Benson mused, "is how being able to metabolise normal food again solves Tom and Lexi's other problem."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's still a wizard and she's still a Nekross. A Nekross that doesn't eat magic anymore but still a Nekross. I mean, are they going to settle down in a house in the suburbs and hope the form filter is enough? I thought that technology was just an illusion."

Sun thought of a child with dark hair and magical eyes running through a forest that no longer existed.

"I don't know," she replied. "I don't know."

She looked around, momentarily confused.

"Where's Spiers? Have you even seen him today?"

"No idea," Benson said, "Does it matter?"

"I guess not. It's time for us to spread the cover story to explain what happened today. Regardless of what happens, the war is over and Tom is gone. Those two things will require an explanation."

* * *

It was time. The place was the stone circle at Burnt Hill. For reasons Sun now completely understood but the other humans did not, Varg had been released from custody and was still speaking for his people. He seemed chastened as he arrived, however, and she knew Lexi's call for universal consent had undercut his authority. From a strange new part of her memories, she knew the ancient law Lexi's words had drawn on. Monarchy or not, the ruling class had been neutered. Lexi had known what she was doing.

Sun allowed herself one small moment of malice toward the other woman. Then she buried it and went about her duty. At this point, her soldiers were mostly there for security. Tom, Lexi and Benny arrived by magic that had the clear traces of Hawke in it. Grimm magic. Benson was right: Tom was saving his magic for something. If Lexi's virus didn't require it then that he wasn't done.

"Let us not beat around the bush as you humans say," Varg began almost immediately. "I have lodged my objections but I have been overruled. Your call for a classical referendum bypassed me completely, as you no doubt are aware. As the ruling family, we're the only citizens who don't get a vote. Your knowledge of ancient law is as extraordinary as your knowledge of science, sister. I commend you. In the final battle, you have won."

"Won?" Benny exclaimed joyously, "are you saying that…?"

"I'm saying that our people have voted for your change, sister. It was unanimous."

"Just like that?" Tom said uncertainly, "I thought…"

"I'm afraid the level of hunger on our worlds has increased significantly since we last tangled, Tom Clarke. The situation has become desperate enough that the people are willing to consider even your blasphemy. Besides, they trust you both. A side effect of your magical mind meld. I commend you. What you couldn't win with battle, you did with manipulation."

"Brother, that is unworthy of you."

"No, sister, it is unworthy of you. You are supposed to be a warrior."

"I am a warrior. I fight for the survival of our people. That is what a true soldier does, Varg. We fight for life, not for death. We fight to end wars, not start them. The greatest soldiers only pick up a weapon as a last resort. I had hoped that after everything you could have learned this. But as things stand, what will you do?"

"I am my people's ruler. I will not ignore their will. Change starts from the top, as it always does. So you will change me first. The rest of my people will follow."

" _Our_ people, Varg."

"No, sister. Not anymore. You have made your choice. You may return to Nekross unmolested but your place in the hierarchy is gone. You are no longer a princess of Nekron."

Lexi just nodded, a flash of pain flying across her face for only a moment.

"Very well, brother. Now embrace me. To say farewell and to begin this process for our people."

Varg looked momentarily stunned.

"Are you saying?"

"Of course, Varg. I could not do to my people what I would not do myself. I infected myself over a week ago. The process is complete with minimal side effects. I am Patient Zero," she smiled, an expression that looked odd on her Nekross face. "I had eggs for breakfast."

Varg allowed himself one last scowl of distaste at the thought. No more magic. But then, that was true anyway so why not embrace the alternative? As angry as he was, part of him knew that this was the best path.

"Embrace me, brother. An ending and a beginning for us and for our people."

Varg nodded, pain in his eyes. And then he launched himself at his sister and threw his arms around her.

The future was here.

* * *

The hill was silent as it ever was. Tom remembered that first day; being here trying to draw the power from the Neverside. Getting his father's phonecall. _They were back._

And further back again to the day his world had changed. Each time, he had been here. At this magical nexus; this portal between dimensions.

And now his world would shift again.

"It's time," a calm, clear voice said beside him. He smiled and slipped his hand into hers without even needing to look. It still felt Nekross. He took a moment to remember that feeling before it was gone. He loved this Lexi too.

The gathering was small. Them, Sun, Benson, his family, the remaining nine. And Benny, of course. He saw his best friend approaching through the tall, cool stones and he stepped forward to embrace him.

"This isn't goodbye," he said, "It's just au revoir."

"Since when did you know French?" Benny asked him jokingly.

"Since I cast a language spell on myself to pass Spanish last year."

"Oh Tom, you didn't?"

"I did."

They both laughed and Tom hugged him again.

"I'm going to miss you, buddy."

Benny gave him a rueful look, "Do you have to go?"

Tom just nodded then saw Sun hovering around the edge of the group and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry," Tom said to her, simply. "I wish there was a way."

"Don't be," Sun said. "She is always with me. Varg was right about that. I can't live in the past."

She could see the unintended impact of her words on him.

"Do you think that's what I'm doing," he asked her, seriously. Earnestly. "Escaping into the past?"

"Maybe if you'd run into the Neverside, to a fantasy. But, no. You didn't run. You used the truth about the past to create a future you could live in. What else is there in the end? Just fear and hate and death."

He smiled at her slightly. Irony. "They still exist."

"But there is less of it today than there was yesterday. That matters."

He didn't say anything, just stared off into the distance for a minute.

"The truth is," she found the courage to admit, "I think I'd always see her as not being entirely real and that's not fair on her. You live in a world of magic but I don't. That's not the way I'm built. My daughter died. I saw her die. I would give anything to hold her again one more time. Almost anything. But in my bones I know that she's gone. That's what life is. Birth and death and living with everything in between."

He nodded, but he was still pensive.

"What are you doing to do?" she asked him finally.

"Lexi and I are going somewhere. Somewhere we can make a difference. The Nekross need help through this transition and as Varg said, they trust us now. Others can guard the Line. And I don't think the word is ready for a cross-species marriage or a magical child."

"Maybe not. But they will be if you stay. You're a hero."

"Today I'm a hero. What am I tomorrow? What is my son?"

"A symbol?" Even as she said it, it turned into a question: it turned wrong.

"He's a child," Tom said simply, "He deserves more than that."

"Is that why the humans weren't in the spell?"

"Yes. If we failed, if the Nekross didn't agree and we had to stay, we needed to be able to blend in as normal wizards. I wish I could believe the world was ready to accept us. But accepting wizards is already a gamble. I can't make that gamble for my son."

Sun nodded in complete understanding, then broached the question she'd been wanting to ask.

He smiled ruefully, "The problem is I was trying to do it alone. It can be done now. With my expanded magic, the rest of the Lines, the Nekross Resonator and…you."

"Me?" Sun shook her head in confusion. "How can I help?"

Tom reached out his hand and gently held the locket currently around her neck in his palm.

"A magical tether. One created by the purest of loves: the love of a child."

He saw the look on her face and smiled reassuringly, "I don't need to keep it. The spell will be quick and then it's yours to keep. In perpetuity."

She thought for a moment and then nodded.

"It's perfect."

* * *

The day they left was an ordinary day.

Except of course it wasn't.

At dawn they were at war. At dusk, they were here at the dawn of a new age.

To an ordinary person going about their ordinary day, it was as ordinary as the day they first came. A news broadcast. A confused flurry of questions. The enemy gone.

There was an alien on the television. And then there were flowers. And then the war was over. And work started at 8:30 and the gym opened from 5:00.

The news listed the name of the single fallen hero: Tom Clarke, warrior wizard.

Tom and Lexi stepped to the centre of the circle, surrounded by Gemma, Eva, Jackson, Amelia and Sarah. There was a shimmer in the air and Nathaniel Nightjar appeared and joined the circle. Seven of the nine lines all in one place. Even without Tom, the future of Twilight was clearly assured.

Tom's father and grandmother stood back outside the group but were clearly upset.

"He's an adult now and I have to respect that," was all Tom's father had said when Sun had tried to ascertain how he felt about things. She couldn't imagine this was what they'd wanted for him.

Nobody in the circle said anything but something must have told them all it was time.

Lexi disengaged the form filter and engaged the resonator; directing the beam at the centre of the circle. The warrior wizards gripped hands and began a sonorous and unintelligible chant.

The magic - as achingly beautiful and as frighteningly alien as she remembered - began to build around Tom and Lexi: the spell raising the hairs on her arms again as it spiralled in the atmosphere above the pair. Once again, she felt the pendant in her hand and didn't remember picking it up. Tom nodded to her and she entered the circle and secured the jewellery around his and Lexi's hands.

Then she backed out of the charged circle, trying not to run as the tear opened: a giant multi-coloured rent in the air. But this one was not dark and glassy and terrifying. It was sunshine and warmth and the strong smell of eucalyptus forests. It was the promise of perpetual spring and autumn harvests. This was _right_ finally in a way the older tear had been fundamentally wrong. This was the Neverside. The true world of magic, opened finally before her grateful eyes. This was a moment of life she would never - could never - forget. This was a gift.

As she felt the full force of that warmth and love kiss her face, she heard the words of Tom's spell and saw the roar of power burst from the dimensional rift. Even before she saw the power ripple over Lexi's newly-human form, before she saw the form of a playful boy take shape in the circle, she knew it had worked, knew it was as it should be.

They'd finally done it. Together.

Sun's vision blurred and she realised she was crying. Tears of joy and tears of loss but also tears of something else. Something she hadn't felt since that day in a sterile and joyless oncologist's office.

Peace.

Tom walked from the circle and handed Sun back her locket.

"Now you can keep both our children safe."

And he joined Lexi and his son in the sunlit circle of conjured energy.

And then they were gone.

Sun smiled through her happy tears, tucked the pendant lovingly into her pocket, and she and Benson left the hillside. It was time to go home.


End file.
